Party of None
by SoI'llKillYou
Summary: Tired of being outvoted on how he and his sisters spend their weekends, Lincoln decides to do what he wants and show them what its like to be left out for a change
1. Chapter 1

**We're back with the winner of our Poll**  
 **Party of None, hope you enjoy it**

 **And here...we...go!**

 **Party of None**

It was a cool, breezy Sunday at the Loud House. Lincoln scrambled around his room, searching under his bed and in the crawlspace behind the vent for something he had misplaced.

"C'mon," Lincoln thought. "Where did I put it?"

He opened the bottom drawer of his dresser and rummaged through it to find an extendable baton.

"Got it!" Lincoln said. "Its Sunday morning at the Loud House and that means my sisters and I are going to have a sibling meeting to decide how to spend our day. Sounds fun, right? Well it would be if we didn't go to the same place every weekend. The Royal Woods Mall."

-begin flashback-

A few months ago, the eleven Loud Siblings gathered in Lori and Leni's room in a sibling meeting.

"Okay people" Lori said "I'm accepting ideas on how we should spend the day."

Lincoln raised his hand "Ooh, ooh! We could go to DairyLand!"

But all ten of his sisters made a buzzer noise and gave him a thumbs down.

Lincoln's face fell a bit before suggesting another idea. "Okay... How 'bout Gus' Games and Grub!"

His sisters did the same thing as before and made a buzzer noise, giving him another thumbs down.

Lincoln bristled a bit. "How about-" he began.

The girls do the exact same thing a third time, cutting him off before he could suggest somewhere else.

"I know some place we'd all like!" Lori said.

-20 minutes later-

Lincoln sat on a bench, alone and angry while watching all the sisters having a good time at the mall, looking out at Lily sitting on the floor beside the bench.

-End Flashback-

"I always get dragged to the mall. I never get to do what I want to do there because I'm always stuck watching Lily. And even when I'm not, I'm always helping carry someones' bags. But this time it's gonna be different. Because this time I have a presentation set up that is sure to convince my sisters to spend the day doing what I have planned. All I have to do is change into my suit and I'll be ready for the meeting."

Lincoln set down his baton and next went to get his blue suit. He'd like to see just how easy it would be for his sister to try and turn him down this time. The presentation he had prepared was chock full of valid points to back up his plan and he was even prepared to deal with any jokes from Luan or condescending remarks from Lori. Not to mention that he could easily sway some of his sisters over to his side. Lisa would no doubt be compelled by his argument and would even back him up once she saw the logic he utilized. And Leni would be practically wrapped around his little finger, fawning over how handsome he looked.

After changing and grooming himself a bit, Lincoln was ready to go see his sisters. He felt very confident about how things would proceed. He had put a bit of thought into his idea and knew that they'd go for it for sure. All he had to do was open his door, walk down to the other end of the hall and...

The door to his room swung open, quickly gaining his attention. All ten of his sisters stood on the other side, Lori at the front of the group. Lincoln took immediate notice of the fact that she had her purse slung over her shoulder and the keys to Vanzilla in her hand.

"C'mon twerp, we're heading to the mall." She said.

"What are you talking about?" Lincoln asked. "We haven't had the meeting to decide that yet!"

"No, we did. Just now. I kept it quick to save time." Lori explained. "I asked if they wanted to go and everyone said they did."

"I didn't! I wasn't even there!" Lincoln protested. "That isn't fair!"

"Actually, if one takes a moment to think through the matter, it is." Lisa said, adjusting her glasses. "In the event you had attended, you would have voted either to go or not to go. If you had voted to go, then it would have been unanimous and we'd be going. On the other hand, had you voted against the idea, then you would have been outvoted ten to one and we'd still be going anyway."

"Yup, it literally wouldn't have made a difference." Lori said with a nod. "Besides, we end up going every week anyway, so it shouldn't be a surprise that we're doing it again. Now get changed or just come with what you're already wearing, we're burning daylight."

"Yeah, and we're, like, wasting time too!" Leni added.

Lincoln slumped his shoulders and lowered his head in defeat. "Fine. " he said. "Just give me time to change."

"You've got five minutes." Lori said. "C'mon girls."

Lori shut the door and led the girls downstairs into Vanzilla, leaving Lincoln alone in his room. He tightly gripped the baton in his hand before extending it to full length, snapping it over his knee, and throwing the pieces against the wall. His face reddened with frustration as he pulled off his suit and changed into a set of street clothes.

"I'm so sick of this!" Lincoln thought as he put on his shoes and then angrily kicked his dresser. "Every single weekend! What do I have to get them to listen to me?"

Once he had changed, he stomped down the stairs, out of the house and into Vanzilla, slamming to door hard enough to rattle the windows.

"Easy on the door, Lincoln!" Lori said. "We want to get to the mall with Vanzilla in one piece."

" You want to get to the mall." Lincoln grumbled under his breath. "I don't!"

Lori started up Vanzilla, and drove to the mall. The Loud Sisters happily chatted amonsgt themselves, and Lincoln sat in the back next to Lucy, stewing in anger. Lucy stopped scribbling in her notebook and lightly poked his shoulder with her pen.

"Can you help me with a line of my next poem?" she asked. "I need a word that rhymes with 'late'."

"How about 'hate'?" Lincoln suggested hotly.

"That works." she said as she wrote it down. "All finished with my new poem, It's called "Weekend". Wanna hear it?"

Lincoln grunted in response. Taking it as a 'yes', Lucy cleared her throat.

 _"I wake up Sunday morning_

 _With all my siblings in tow._

 _We get together and decide_

 _On where we all should go._

 _We chose our destination;_

 _So hurry, don't be late_

 _Because missing out on a trip to the mall,_

 _Is something I would hate"_

She turned to Lincoln. "What did you think?" she asked.

"Change part of the second line." Lincoln said flatly.

"Why?" she asked. "Whats wrong with it?"

"Since I wasn't there it doesn't make sense to use the phrase 'all my siblings'." Lincoln said through clenched teeth' "So change it to 'all my sisters'."

"Oh, yeah, that does make sense. Thanks." Lucy said, making the correction as suggested. "So when we get to the mall, do you think you could help me find a new pair of dress shoes? I want something to go with my new funeral dress."

Lincoln let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, sure." He said dejectedly. "It's not like what I'll get to anything I want to do anyway." he added under his breath.

Lincoln spent the remainder of the ride to the mall silently griping about the whole thing. By the time they arrived, his mood had improved a little, but not by much. While his sisters eagerly made their way through the parking lot, he dragged his feet. Part of him thought it would be best to just let them keep going and fall behind. Maybe he could get to do something then. But that came with the risk of angering Lori. She would not tolerate him wandering off at any point during the trip. Which was ridiculous considering that all of his sisters would branch off to go to the places they liked the minute they got through the doors.

"But if I go off by myself, Lori will go bounty hunter on my butt and then she'll hold my hand the whole time we're here!" Lincoln thought, his temper flaring again.

The group entered the mall and just as Lincoln anticipated, the sisters started to split and go their separate ways. Lisa and Leni went off in one direction while Luna, Lynn and Lana made their way to the nearest escalator. Luan pushed Lily in her stroller while Lori led her and Lola off to look in a nearby store, leaving Lincoln and Lucy alone. And according to Lori's rules, all of the younger sisters had to stick with one of the six older siblings. Meaning Lincoln had to stay with Lucy until...

Until they met back up with any of their older sisters. Which meant that it was just the two of them, and he was in charge. Maybe, just maybe...

"Hey Luce." He said. "After we pick out some new shoes for you, do you think we can check out the comic book store?"

Lucy gave him a blank stare. "You know comics aren't my thing, Lincoln."

"Yeah, and shoe shopping isn't my thing." Lincoln politely countered. "But it's only fair that I get to go to a store I like too. Besides, I think I know a comic that you would like. It's about vampires trying to survive a zombie apocalypse."

Lincoln noted Lucy's head lifted up a tiny bit, her face showing a bit of intrigue. She remained silent for a moment, but then...

"Okay. That does sound like it would be interesting. And it's only fair that you get to do something you want to do too." she said.

"Awesome! Let's go find you some new shoes!" Lincoln said, taking the lead with a new spring in his step. Things were starting to go his way, all he had to do was wait for just a little bit. Then he could do something he wanted and with one of his sisters too. The best part was this wouldn't be too bad. Not like with Lori or Lola when they were shopping. Or the trial that came with assisting Leni when she was looking for new shoes. That girl would want to buy nearly all of them, but only ever have the money for one or two pairs. Compared to that, helping Lucy would be no trouble at all.

 _-A short while later-_

Lincoln learned something that day. Lucy was definitely more trouble when it came to shoe shopping than he would have dared to guess. She was right up there with Leni, except instead of liking too many different types of shoes, she just didn't seem to like _any of them._ It was mind boggling. Not to mention physically draining. He had practically checked all over the young girl's section of the shoe store, picking out anything in Lucy's size that suited her taste. But there was always something she didn't like about the darn things!

"Sorry Lincoln." Lucy said, taking off another rejected shoe. "But this won't do either. I like how it looks, but it pinches my toes too much."

"It's okay, let's just put them back and see what else we can find." he replied, barely containing an exasperated sigh.

He took the shoes and put them back into their box. This would be pair number...actually, he had stopped counting after they had hit thirteen pairs of shoes. But he was sure that the number would have been more than twice that. It was one of the larger shoe stores after all, and he had picked it specifically to have the best variety of options available. And so far, not any of them met Lucy's standards. He was really close to losing his patience with her.

"No, no, no." he chastised himself. _"_ It's not her fault. Maybe we just need to try a store more suitable to her tastes."

"Hey, is there a different store in the mall that might have what you're looking for?" He asked. "We aren't having luck in this one. The only other shoes left in your size are, well, not your style."

Lucy nodded. "I think I might be able to find something in one of my usual shopping spots. Follow me."

The spooky girl began to lead her brother out of the store and off towards a descending escalator. Lincoln looked around as they reached the bottom, trying to spot whatever place Lucy had in mind. But he soon found himself distracted as he felt a familiar pressure building up in his bladder.

"Uh-oh." He said, feeling the urge growing stronger. "Uh, Luce? I need to run to the boy's bathroom. You don't mind if I just meet you there, do you?"

"Not at all. It's just over there." Lucy said, pointing to a store just down the way. "I'll just head in and start to look around. But I'll stay near the front of the store so you won't need to look for me, okay?"

Lincoln nodded and ran off to the nearest public facility. Luckily it wasn't to far from the escalators. But to his annoyance, he found that it was out of order when he got there. Great, now he had to go to the next nearest bathrooms. Sure it was just up the escalators, but that would mean he had to wander even further from Lucy. He'd just have to be quick.

Rushing back to the escalators, Lincoln went back up to the next floor. He excused himself as he ran past people riding the up escalator and got to the top. Spotting the bathrooms, he beelined it over and soon achieved sweet relief.

On his way back out, Lincoln saw the comic book store across from him. He noticed a table had been set up with a sign reading 'Free Comics Today Only!' hanging on the front. A teenager who worked at the store was piling up stacks of comics on the table, and there was a lot of them too. There was no way Lincoln couldn't go over to check it out.

But...he was supposed to be with Lucy. He couldn't just run off to the comic store and leave her waiting. That could easily come back to bite him. It was best to just head back down to find Lucy, help her find her shoes and then they'd come right back up. There were plenty of comics there, it's not like he wouldn't get his pick. The store was probably only allowing people to pick out one or two of them for free. He could definitely afford to wait...after he just took one quick little peek at the selection.

Lincoln power walked over to the table, thinking over his plan. He'd just look over the table nice and quick. Just a few seconds and nothing more. Then he'd return to Lucy to help her out and afterwards the two of them would come up here and look around together. And from there they could head to the food court for something to snack on. It would be fun. Or at least more fun that he usually had at the mall with his sisters.

The table was just a few more feet away. Some other people were already gathering there to look at the different titles up for grabs. One person got directly in his way and he went to go around them. But they stepped in front of him again, Lincoln taking note of the fact that they were facing him. No, _she_ was facing him. He had been in such a hurry to look at the comics, he had completely missed his older sister approaching from the side. And she didn't look pleased with him at all.

"Lincoln." Lori said in an icy cold tone. "Please tell me that you didn't ditch our little sister so you could look at stupid comic books!"

"What? No! I just..."

"Do _NOT_ lie to me!" Lori snapped. "I have a text from Lucy right her on my phone. She said you literally went to use the bathroom and then instead ran off on her!"

Oooh, that wasn't good. Lucy must've seen him reach the out of order bathroom and then have to go off to find another one. She probably contacted Lori right away after she saw that. In hindsight, he should've doubled back to let her know about what he was doing. Hopefully Lori would let him explain. But being caught practically at the comic store's door wasn't making things look to good for him. Oh well, here went nothing.

"This isn't what it looks like, Lori." Lincoln said. "I had to come here because the bathroom near the shoe store was out of order."

"Maybe so." Lori went on. "But you should've come back when you were finished. I mean, what kind of older sibling leaves their eight year old sister alone in the shoe store to go read comics?"

Lincoln twitched in annoyance at Lori's words. "This coming from the one who makes me watch Lily all the time when we come to the mall!" he fired back.

Lori rolled her eyes. "Well if this is how you're going to act, then maybe we shouldn't trust you to watch her when we're shopping."

Lincoln ground his teeth as anger began to bubble up in his stomach "I didn't even want to come to the mall." he said hotly.

"Well now you're here." Lori said. "And you can't just run off and leave when your sister needs you!"

"Seriously?!" Lincoln said. "You're allowed to run off on your own, but I'm not?"

"Hello," Lori said. "I'm the oldest. I'm used to looking out for my siblings all the time, so I deserve to run off on my own once in a while."

"You're the oldest. You're the oldest." Lincoln repeated. "Why's that your answer for everything?"

"Don't try and change the subject, Lincoln." Lori said. "The point is you were responsible for Lucy and made a mistake. Now let's go back to her and then you will apologize. Understood?"

Lincoln only gave a short nod in response, not happy with being chewed out. Sure, he knew he made a mistake and he'd own up to that. But he found it slightly hypocritical that he was getting chewed out for something that would have been easily avoided if he could have just been included in the dang plans to go to the mall anyway. It was always the same thing, but at least they talked about it first! That little bit of courtesy would have gone a long way.

Lori led Lincoln back down the the lower level and over to the store where Lucy was waiting for them. The spooky girl had stood by the counter, near one of the people who worked at the store while she waited. When she saw Lincoln, she turned away from him, clearly not any happier than Lori had been about what happened. That did make Lincoln feel a bit guilty.

"I'm sorry Lucy." he said. "I should've told you that I had to go use a different bathroom."

"That would have been appreciated." Lucy dryly replied. "But I accept your apology and would still like to go to the comic book store with you after this."

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Lori asked. "She said she'd go to the store with you, Lincoln? Then why did you try to go to the store without her? Couldn't you have waited?"

"Well, I was going to." Lincoln began. "But then I saw they had a table with some comics out front and I..."

"You decided that you didn't want to wait for me to do my thing first." Lucy said. "That's fine. I get it. You wanted to do what you wanted to do, that's all."

There was an icyness to Lucy's tone. And Lincoln saw a solitary tear run down her pale cheek. It made Lincoln feel a bit more guilty to see that. He hadn't meant to upset his little sister. And he did have to admit that he had acted without thinking of her feelings, so she did have a right to be upset.

"Sorry, again." Lincoln said sincerely. "I won't do something like that again."

"You had better not!" Lori cut in. "That was very selfish of you, Lincoln!"

And just like that the guilt was gone and anger had taken it's place. It was amazing how quickly that happened. Sure, Lori had a point about him being selfish. But was she really one to bring that up when she and the other sisters had been selfish by not letting him have a say in where to go today? That got under Lincoln's skin, and deep too. But he let it go. He had no interest in arguing about it. Not when he knew that she'd just skate over his feelings and opinions anyway.

Lori took over helping Lucy look for her new shoes. After that they went to meet up with the other sisters at the food court, meeting up with Luan, Lola and Lily on the way. They found a couple tables and eventually all of the other Louds arrived. Lincoln took his seat at one of them and rested his chin in the palm of his hand while many of his sisters went off to grab some food.

"Hey Linc, we're gonna go get in line at that pizza place. Can you watch our seats?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, sure." he said, watching them take off. "Sitting around and watching stuff for you guys is all I get to do here anyways." he grumbled.

"Are you still belly-aching?" Lori asked.

The eldest sister took her seat at the adjacent table, setting her turkey burger and fries down in front of her. Leni joined a moment later, a tasty cobb salad on her tray. Lincoln chose not to say anything to his sister in response and she let it be. But as time went on and the sisters all got and began to eat their own food, Lori had to give into her big sister instincts.

"Aren't you going to have something to eat?" she asked.

"That depends. Am I allowed to get something that _I_ want to eat? Or am I only allowed to have what _you_ decide for me?" Lincoln asked.

"Oh would you stop being such a baby?" Lori snipped. "No offense, Lily."

"Hagga-bababa." Lily replied. Which translated from baby-talk means 'none taken'.

"If I am being a baby, it's only because I'm being treated like one!" Lincoln replied. "Why do you even bring me along? Everyone except me always gets to do what they want to do! And I get dragged along to either watch Lily or carry your bags or something else!"

"Fine." Lori said. "Then next time, we won't bring you with us. You can just stay at home while we have fun."

"Good idea! In fact, I think I'll just go home now!" Lincoln snipped.

Lori smirked and let out a sarcastic laugh. "If you think that I'm going to take you home, then you can forget it. I still want to do more shopping."

"Then I'll just take the bus!"

Lincoln hopped out of his seat and stormed off. Lori watched him go for a moment before letting out a sigh.

"He's literally going to take the bus. I'm going to follow him and make sure he gets there okay. Leni, watch my food until I get back."

"Like, okay!" Leni chirped as her big sister left. Then she turned her attention to Lori's tray, narrowing her eyes at the half eaten burger and remaining fries.

"Uhhh, what are you doing?" Luna asked.

"Duh, I'm watching Lori's food for her." Leni said, not looking away from it. "Just like she asked me to."

Lincoln stomped out of the mall and over the the bus stop on the corner. He sat on the bench, arms folded and teeth clenched tightly. He inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself down as his eldest sisters' words rang out in his mind.

"Selfish of me?" he thought. "I get dragged someplace I don't wanna be every weekend, where I have look out for Lily while they go shopping. Then I have to help them take all their stuff home. Then the one time I try and make good out of a bad situation she has the nerve to call me selfish!"

After a few minutes of sulking, a big silver bus trudged up to the street corner and opened its doors to him. Lincoln walked up the stairs to get on, but he looked back at the building for a moment. He saw his Lori standing at the entrance to the mall, watching him leave. His hand itched as he fought the urge to send her a rude gesture. He finished his walk up the steps, sat down, and the bus drove away with him on it.

"He made it on." Lori thought as she turned to go back into the mall "Good."

Lori walked through the crowds of people until she made it back to the food court. She sat back down with her sisters and let out a small sigh.

"Well he's on his way back home." Lori said.

"Is he okay?" Luna asked. "Those were some pretty Angry Words he was using."

Lori heaved a sigh. "He's just whiny because he didn't get to pick where we were going." Lori said. "He'll be over it by the time we get...hey...what happened to my food?"

She looked over at Leni. "You were supposed to watch my food for me."

"I did." Leni said. "I watched it get eaten by Lynn."

Lori looked over at Lynn, who shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "Ugh!" she grunted in frustration. "Now I have to get more. Well lucky for me I still have Lincoln's share of the money that mom and dad gave us."

"Whoa." Luna said. "You're just gonna just take his money and run? That's not cool Lori."

"Relax." Lori said. "I'm just gonna use enough to get another meal. I'll give the rest to him when we get back home. If you wanna blame someone, blame Lynn for making me replace my food."

-A short while later, across town-

Lincoln hopped off of the bus and began making his way down the street. He had been in a bad mood the entire ride back from the mall. But the walk from the bus station helped to calm him down a little bit. Now that he wasn't so focused on griping, he turned his thoughts towards deciding what to do with the little time he'd have until his sisters got back. He'd get first dibs on any food in the fridge, the remote, and he could lounge around the living room in his underwear while reading comics. And he could do any or all of those things with not a single interruption from his sisters. Despite how things went before he left, things were looking pretty good for him.

"I should have ditched going to the mall with my sisters sooner." he thought as he finally reached his home. "With all the time they spend there, I finally have time to do what I want to do!"

He opened the front door and kicked off his shoes. They were quickly followed by his shirt and pants as he shut the door again and ran up to his room. He grabbed a selection of his favorite comic titles and rushed back down the stairs and hopped onto the couch. After picking out a comic from the stack, he made himself comfortable and began to read.

Time passed and Lincoln set down the fourth comic book he had read. He felt a little hungry and decided to go rummage around the fridge for a bite to eat. And it was inside of the fridge that he found a delicious half dozen of his dad's mac n' cheese bites leftover from the night before. Score!

After reheating the food in the microwave, Lincoln returned to the living room and turned the television on. He flipped through a few channels and settled on a sci-fi movie that had just started. It was one he had already seen a few dozen times already, but he didn't mind seeing it again. Better than being stuck arguing with one of his sisters over what to watch.

A commercial break started after a little while, after Lincoln had devoured the mac n' cheese bites and washed them down with the last can of soda from the fridge. He let out a satisfied belch and laid back with his arms crossed behind his head. This was just the best. Getting to do what he wanted for a change was just the greatest. He wished he could do it more often.

"And why shouldn't I?" Lincoln thought, his mind returning to the earlier issue that had aggravated him so much. "I should be allowed to get to pick what we do every once in a while. It's not like I'd force them to do the things I want to do."

He sat up, recalling the idea he was planning on sharing with them at the meeting that he had been left out of. It was a pretty darn good one too! He had put a lot of thought into it and really tried to be considerate of what his sisters wanted to do while he did so. If they had just bothered to let him say his piece, he was positive they'd like it. And just thinking of how he had been left out of the meeting entirely caused his foul mood to start coming back.

"You know what?" He thought as he got up and went up to his room. "If they're so against doing what I want to do, then fine! I won't bother suggesting anything to them! In fact, if I want to do something, then I'll just go ahead and do it without them!" He entered his room and grabbed a flashdrive off of his bureau, the one that contained the idea he had wanted to share with his sisters.

"And I think I'll start with this."

 **Please review**  
 **And dont forget to send some love to my co-writer Twisteddarkness225**


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2

Lincoln reviewed his plan again. He had spent the past hour or so thinking through everything he would need to get and need to do to make it happen. It was ambitious, that was for certain. He'd need to get straight to work right away and unfortunately have to put in extra effort to keep his sisters in the dark about it all. Things would only be more difficult, probably even impossible, if they caught wind of anything he was doing. Each step would need to be taken carefully, starting right then and there.

"Okay, let's see..." he thought, tapping his pencil against the notebook page. "I think that should do it. Now, where should I hide this? I don't want to take any chances."

He took a quick look around his room, his eyes settling on a box of comics inside sealed mylar bags. Those would do nicely. Lincoln picked out one at random and carefully opened the bag. Then he tore the notebook page out and folded it twice before tucking it into the middle of the comic and then resealing it. He put the treasured item that now hid his plans into its proper place among the other comics and shut the box. After that he put the box beneath his bed for good measure. Even if any of his sisters decided to snoop around his room for any reason, they'd overlook the box once they knew what it contained. Not that he'd expect them to do any snooping. Well, except for Lola. She had been caught a few times already, but Lincoln was confident she would have no interest in his box of comics should she find them.

Satisfied with his work so far, Lincoln decided to return downstairs to enjoy a little more time with the t.v. There was an episode of Operation Dessert Storm that he still needed to watch and he was eager to see what the next challenge would be for the remaining competitors. And since his sisters had still not gotten back from the mall yet that would mean zero interruptions and zero chance of spoilers.

As he got to the staircase, he heard the front door open. For a moment he thought that his sisters were back and he let out a sigh, giving up on having more time to himself. But then he saw that it was his father who had entered the house, a stack of envelopes in his hands and a newspaper tucked under his arm. The man of the house saw his son and greeted him with a smile.

"Hey there Lincoln. Didn't realize you kids were back...wait." he stepped back out onto the front porch and checked the driveway. "Where's Vanzilla? Don't tell me, stuck somewhere after breaking down again?"

"No." Lincoln said, shaking his head. "I just left early and took the bus home."

"You did? Why?" Lynn Sr. asked.

"I didn't want to be at the mall, so I just left."

"I see. And that's all? You just felt like leaving? No other reasons?" the father pressed, sensing something was up.

"Well...Lori and I may have had a fight before I left." Lincoln admitted.

Lynn Sr. walked over to the bottom stair and beckoned his son to come down.

"How about you and I sit down and have a little talk? It sounds like something I should know about."

"Yeah. That's..." Lincoln trailed off a moment, his eyes suddenly lighting up. "A great idea! Can I talk to mom about it too?"

"Oh, um, sure thing kiddo." Lynn replied. "She should be back any moment now. We were just next door, joining the Yates' for lunch. Let's take a seat on the couch and wait for her."

"That works for me." Lincoln said. "And I have something else I want to talk to you about too."

\- A short while later-

Vanzilla pulled into the driveway. The vehicle came to rest and was shut off, the rumble of it's engine slowly dying. The Loud sisters climbed out of it and made their way to the door. Lori took out her keys and unlocked it for them, swinging it open. Once they began to walk inside, they found their parents waiting for them in the living room.

"There you are." Rita said. "Did you girls have fun today?"

"We totes did!" Leni said excitedly. "Except for the part where Lori and Lincoln were mad at each other."

"Yes, we heard about that." the mother said. "And on that note, we'd like to have a quick chat with you Lori."

"Oh, okay." Lori said, turning to hand her bags to Leni. "Here, could you put these on my bed for me?"

Leni nodded and began ascending the stairs with her and Lori's things. Lori followed Rita and Lynn Sr. into their bedroom and took a seat on the bed. She already had a good idea what was going on and she was mildly irritated by it.

"So, what did Lincoln tell you that I did?" she asked with a calm tone.

"Basically he said that while at the mall there was some tension between you two. And that things got a little hairy when you caught him away from Lucy when he was supposed to be looking after her. Then you two had an argument while at the food court and he left to take the bus home." Lynn Sr. summarized.

Lori blinked. "Oh, that's literally what happened." She said with mild surprise.

"Were you expecting your brother to have lied to us?" Rita inquired.

"Not necessarily. Maybe left some things out. But, then why am I here? I didn't do anything wrong. I was just upset with him because he was being difficult during lunch. And for leaving Lucy alone."

"And we're glad that you took care of that and spoke to him." Rita continued. "We spoke to him about it too. But you also allowed him to just leave by himself."

"I followed him to make sure he got onto the bus alright." Lori politely defended.

"But you didn't let either of us know that he would be coming home early, by himself." Lynn Sr. countered. "We just would appreciate being given a heads up about something like that in the future, that's all."

"And we think it would be a good idea for you to go talk to your brother too." Rita added. "He's in his room and he knows you'll be coming to see him. So why don't you please head up there and you two can resolve this now."

"Consider it done." Lori said, getting up. "And I'm sorry too. I'll make sure to let you know if something like this happens again."

"Thank you. We'd appreciate that." Rita said just before Lori left the room.

Lori went up the stairs and turned to head to Lincoln's room. But then she stopped and turned around, heading for her own room first. Then she went over to the other end of the hall and knocked on the door. Lincoln opened the door for her and then went to sit on his bed, pulling his laptop back onto his lap and putting a headset on as well.

"Really?" Lori said. "You're playing a game when you know that I came here to talk to you?"

"I can talk and play at the same time." Lincoln said. "So, I guess you want to hear an apology?"

"I would. But it can be after I give you mine."

Lincoln looked away from his laptop's screen. That had caught him a bit off guard. He took his headset off again and looked up at his big sister, signaling for her to go on.

"Listen, I get it, okay? You don't have as much fun as the rest of us at the mall. It feels unfair to you, but keep in mind that eleven of us are trying to come to a decision for our weekend plans. And the mall is the one thing that most of us can agree on. But that doesn't change the fact that Luna would rather go to a concert or Lucy would want to go for a walk in a cemetary. They can settle for something different than what they want so we can all have a good time. Please try to do the same."

"But I still don't get to have a good time!" Lincoln said, a touch of anger to his tone. "The things I want to do are things none of you want to do! While you guys are off shopping together, I wind up by myself or watching Lily!"

"I know, I know. You told me before. And if you want we can talk about that at the next sibling meeting."

"So, we could do something I want to do next weekend?" Lincoln asked hopefully.

Lori hesitated. "About that...we already decided to go to the mall again on Saturday. But we can see to it that you won't be stuck with Lily and you can have a little time to go do the stuff you want to do by yourself."

Lincoln sighed. "Then I may as well just be at the mall by myself. So thanks, but no thanks. I'll just stay home that day."

"If you're sure." Lori said. "But you're welcome to come along if you change your mind. Oh, and before I forget, here's your share of the money from the mall. I may have spent a little of it."

"Lori!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm such an evil witch of a sister." Lori said, rolling her eyes. "It's all there. I took a little out of my rainy day savings to pay you back. I only borrowed some because Lynn stole my lunch."

Lincoln snorted in annoyance before turning back to his laptop. "Whatever." he said. "Thanks for paying me back. Now I'd like to be left alone, if you would be so kind."

Lori frowned at him before giving annoyed snort of her own. "Fine." she said. "Be that way!"

She turned around and left his room. "Ugh!" she groaned. "That kid can be such a pain. So he had to go to the mall, what's so bad about that? He's so whiny! Why can't he just grow up and..."

"What's up with Lincoln?" said a raspy voice.

Lori looked over to see Luna standing up against the wall near her room. "He's still complaining about not getting to do what he wanted." she said as she fished her cell phone out of her pocket. "Why doesn't just let it go? We're already back from the mall so there's no point in him being such a brat about it."

"To be fair," Luna said. "Having the meeting without him wasn't a nice move, Lor. At least before we waited until he was actually at the meeting before we shot down his ideas."

Lori's quickly texting fingers slowed down as Luna's words reached her. "Well it's not like it was personal." she said as her fingers trembled on the touch screen. "We all know it would've gone the same way if he was there, so why waste time? I was just speeding things along."

"Still..." Luna went on. "Just because he'd have different ideas on how to have fun, that's no reason to treat him like Everybody's Fool."

Lori bit down on her lip as the guilt began to bubble up in her chest. "Well it's already over." she said. "So there's no need to talk about it now."

Lori marched past her sister and into her room and Luna shook her head at her. She looked back at the door to Lincoln's room.

-Inside Lincoln's room-

Lincoln tapped furiously on the keys to his laptop.

 _SoloSon6 has logged on_

 _RedRunner has logged on_

 _CountryBoy11 has logged on_

 _Rusty10Speed has logged on_

 _ZeroAngerCavalryHero has logged on_

SoloSon6:Glad you could make it guys

RedRunner:No problem

Rusty10Speed:Just woke up, what going on?

ZeroAngerCavalryHero:I've been online all day anyways

CountryBoy11:Anything beats helping my Meemaw blow dry her wig collection

SoloSon6: I was wondering if you guys are doing anything this Saturday?

ZeroAngerCavalryHero: Does homework count?

CountryBoy11: Or chores around the farm?

SoloSon6: I meant like going out to see a movie or something. Because if you aren't...I have a suggestion for something we can all do. But I'll need your help.

RedRunner: What kind of help?

SoloSon6: We can talk about it in greater detail later tonight when my sisters are at dinner. That way its less likely that one of them will interrupt. That and I want to play some Swords & Cyborgs until then Need to let out some steam.

CountryBoy11: Uh-oh, I'm sensing some sister issues.

Rusty10Speed: Is this going to be as bad as the thing with the leftovers?

SoloSon6: No, no. We resolved that a while ago. This is something different. I'll tell you about it tomorrow. But for now, who wants to join me in a game of S&C?

RedRunner: Count me in buddy!

Rusty10Speed: Ditto!

ZeroAngerCavalryHero: Sure, Wynaut?

CountryBoy11: Hardy-Har-Hariyama

SoloSon6: Really guys?

ZeroAngerCavalryHero: Hey you can't spend time with someone like Giggles without starting to like that sort of humor. Besides, you like those games too Lincoln!

SoloSon6: Yeah, I do. Anyway I'll meet you in-game in five minutes. Log in as your best characters! And later we can continue talking about my idea.

RedRunner: You got it!

 _SoloSon6 has logged off_

 _RedRunner has logged off_

Rusty10Speed: Hey, someone let them know I might be a few. My dad is calling me.

ZeroAngerCavalryHero: sure thing.

CountryBoy11: no problemo partner

 _Rusty10Speed has logged off_

 _ZeroAngerCavalryHero has logged off_

 _CountryBoy11 has logged off_

-A few hours later-

Lynn Sr walked over to the three cooling dishes of his famous Lynn-sagna, inhaling their collective intoxicating aroma. He began doling out servings on several plates at the table, humming to himself casually. Once he finished preparing the table, he then turned around and shouted towards the stairs.

"Come on downstairs kids! Dinner is ready!"

The entire house began to shake ominously as ten of the eleven Loud siblings ran into the dining room, slavering for their food like a horde of hungry zombies. The sight of them so eager for his food was enough to warm his heart. And even though he knew that he and his wife didn't condone the kids fighting, it did make Lynn Sr laugh a little to see so much competiveness over who got the biggest piece.

"C'mon kids." he said. "Calm down now. Those are all equally sized portions. Besides, there's plenty of Lynn-sagna for everyone!"

As his children grabbed their seats an began to eat, theer father took notice of something odd.

"Hang on a second, why is there an extra plate? Who's missing?"

"Lincoln." Lori said. "He's been holed up in his room for hours."

"How peculiar." Lisa noted. "He should have at least left to use the bathroom. Perhaps my bathroom files need updating."

"Or maybe he still has that hose to pee in set up in his room." Lana suggested.

"Can we change the subject? I'm trying to eat my dinner if you don't mind!" Lola complained.

Lincoln trudged into the kitchen with his eyes set on his phone. Without looking up at his family, he took his plate off the table and approached his parents.

"Hey dad, would it be alright if I waited a little bit before eating dinner?" He asked. "I'm not feeling too hungry right now."

"Sure thing son." Lynn Sr said, getting up from his seat next to Rita. "I'll cover it in foil and leave it on the counter for when you're ready."

"Thanks." Lincoln said as he left the kitchen, his eyes returning to his phone.

Luna watched him leave before turning back to Lori and frowning at her. Lori frowned back before shoveling a forkful of lasagna into her mouth. The other Loud daughters chatted amongst themselves while they continued to enjoy the meal. Luna and Lori meanwhile ate in silence while exchanging glares between bites. Eventually Lori put her fork down, growing sick of it.

"Would you stop looking at me like that?" Lori snipped.

Luna rolled her eyes before returning her attention towards her food. Lori clenched her teeth, feeling irked by her sister's rude response. She almost gave the girl attitude back, had she not noticed that the rest of the family was watching them.

"What's wrong guys?" Leni asked.

"I'd like to know that myself." Rita said. "Is something going on between you two?"

"It's nothing." Lori said. "Luna just thinks Lincoln is mad at us because he didn't get to do what he wanted today."

"Actually, I think he's mostly mad at _you_ for not letting him come to the meeting." Luna said.

"Why don't you just let it go?" Lori said. "He already has!"

"Whatever." Luna said, turning back to her dinner.

Lori again suppressed the urge to bite Luna's head off. She instead focused on her own plate and the rest of the family followed suit. After a while, they were finished with dinner and ready for dessert. Lynn Sr had sliced twelve equally sized pieces of a rich, chocolate cake and handed them out to his children and wife. Rita shared her piece with Lily while Lynn Sr. retrieved the plate with Lincoln's dinner to go along with his own piece of cake.

"Would one of you girls please go and see if your brother is ready to eat?" The father asked. "Whatever he's doing up there, he's got to be a bit hungry by now.

"I'll take his dessert up to him." Luan eyeing his slice of cake hungrily.

"No, I want to!" Lola said wiping drool off her lips.

"No, let me!" Lynn said standing up.

"Don't even think about it!" Rita said firmly. "That cake is for Lincoln. Lori, would you please take his food up to him?"

Lori nodded and walked over to her father, taking the plates that held Lincoln's dinner and dessert. She made her way to the stairs, licking her lips as her gaze fell to the delicious, chocolate masterpiece in her left hand.

"And that cake had better reach him, young lady." Rita called out, giving Lori a startle. "Don't you touch a single crumb of it."

"Yeah." Luna added with a smirk. "He's mad enough at you already."

Lori cast one last glare Luna's way as she left the girl's sight and went up the stairs.

-Inside Lincoln's room-

Lincoln looked at his friends videochat screen with a proud grin on his face. Clyde, Liam, Rusty and Zach looked at their friend with varying expressions. Rusty was grinning, Clyde and Zach both seemed to be thinking about something, and Liam was nodding with a satisfied look on his face.

"So what do you think of my plan guys?" Lincoln asked of the other boys.

"Wow." Rusty said with glee evident in his voice. "Just...wow. That's really cold, Lincoln."

"Well, to be fair." Zach said. "Keeping him out of their meeting was pretty cold too."

"Cold or not, it still sounds like it would be fun for us!" Liam said.

Clyde bit down on his lower lip, still unable to decide on what he thought.

"Does that mean you're in?" Lincoln asked.

"I'm in." Liam said.

"Same here." Zach said. "No way am I missing this!"

"I'm in." Rusty said. "Fun aside, I can't wait to see the looks on their faces!"

"You haven't said anything, Clyde." Lincoln said. "Are you in?"

Clyde sighed heavily. "I still feel kind of bad for doing something like this to Lori." Clyde said."But I'm not gonna turn my back on my best friend when he needs help. I'm in!"

"Great!" Lincoln said. "So we can get started tomorrow at school."

A loud knock sounded at the door. Lincoln looked up from the screen and quickly muted the sound on his laptop. He permitted the knocker to come in and the door opened, Lori stepping inside.

"Your dinner is getting cold Lincoln." She said, holding out the foil covered plate to him. "And I brought you your dessert too. Unless you don't think you'll have room for it."

"You can leave them over there." Lincoln told her, gesturing to his dresser.

Lori set the plates down. Then she faced him, placing her hands onto her hips. She stood there for a moment before tapping her foot impatiently, the noise gaining Lincoln's attention. He looked up from the screen and found her looking at him as if awaiting something.

"What?" he asked bluntly.

"Isn't there something you'd like to say to your big sister who just brought you your food?"

"Oh, right. Thanks." Lincoln said, looking back down at the screen.

"Just what are you doing that's so distracting on that thing?" Lori asked, leaning over to peek.

Lincoln's hand swiftly shut the screen. Not entirely, but enough to keep Lori from seeing anything. He didn't know why he did it. They were in a video chat after all, it's not like their conversation had been written all over the place for her to read. But it was too late now. He had done it and as a result, Lori was now much more interested in what he was up to.

"Lincoln. Loud." She said, using her most authoratative big sister tone. "Just _what_ are you doing on your laptop?"

"I'm not doing anything!" Lincoln quickly replied.

"Is that so? Then why are you hiding it from me?" Lori countered. "Because if it's what I think it is, then our parents are going to freak out!"

"I'm not doing anything wrong!" The boy defended. "I was just in a video chat with Clyde and a couple of my other friends. I was hiding _you_ from _him_! If you just suddenly popped into view, you know what would happen!"

Lori crossed her arms. "Well if that's the case, then just have him cover his eyes and let me see."

"Fine! Give me a second."

Lincoln opened the screen again and unmuted his end of the call. Then he instructed Clyde to close his eyes and put his fingers in his ears. Once the other boy was all set, Lincoln allowed Lori to look at the screen, showing his four friends in one window with another in the background which showed a game screen. Clyde had his eyes shut tight, his fingers in his ears and was humming as loudly as he could, the sight of which almost made Lori grin.

"So you've just been sitting here this whole time chatting with your friends about whatever stupid things?" Lori asked.

"Swords and Cyborgs." Zach said from the screen.

"And just like that, I've literally lost interest." Lori deadpanned. "Just make sure you eat and bring your plates downstairs when your done."

"I will." Lincoln said, watching her as she left his room. But just as she stepped out the door, something suddenly came to his mind. "Hey Lori, just one more thing."

"Yeah?"

"What did you think I was doing on my laptop?" Lincoln asked, one eyebrow piqued in curiosity.

Lori's face turned red. "Uhh, um, well...I was thinking...Oh look at the time! I need to call Bobby! Gotta go, bye!"

She took off, leaving Lincoln just as bewildered as before, if not moreso. He looked back to his friends, his confusion all over his face.

"That was weird." he told them.

"Dude, _girls_ are weird." Zach said.

"Tell me about it." Rusty added. "Anyway, can we get back to our game now?"

"Sure." Lincoln said. "Just give me a second to let Clyde know he can stop now."

Lincoln went to inform his best friend that Lori was gone. But then he realized there was a little problem. With his eyes closed shut so tightly he wouldn't see them or any messages they sent to him. And he wouldn't hear anything either so long as he kept his fingers in his ears and continued to hum constantly.

"Uh, this might take a moment."

-The Next Day-

Lincoln and his friends had made it through the first half of the day and were sitting together at lunch. They chatted with each other, all of them hunched over an opened spiral notebook set on the table. Lincoln flipped through the pages, writing down notes and ideas that his friends had brought up.

"So how much time is this gonna take?" Liam asked.

"Well, so long as everything goes according to plan..." Lincoln said. "Setting everyhing up should take two hours. Maybe one and a half if we're working fast enough."

"And you're sure that your sisters won't get in the way?" Rusty asked.

"I'm sure." Lincoln said. "Once they leave to go to the mall, they won't care what I'm doing. And by the time they get back home, it'll already be too late."

"And you've already found a way to make sure of it?" Zach asked.

Lincoln frowned. "No, not yet."

His friends all groaned in frustration. "We still have four more days." Lincoln said. "That's still plenty of time to figure out a way to keep them out."

"But what about all the other preparations?" Clyde said. "Our deadline is this Saturday. We need to sort them all out ASAP, and if one is gonna take longer than the others..."

"Just relax Clyde." Lincoln said. "I'm the man with the plan, remember? I'll find a way to keep..."

"Lola." Clyde said.

"Not just Lola." Lincoln repeated. "Luan, Lucy, Leni, Lana, Lori, all of my sisters. I'll make sure that all of them..."

"No." Clyde said pointing behind him. "It's Lola! She's on her way over!"

Lincoln looked to see his pink, glittery gowned sister stomping over with an angry look on her face. He quickly shut his notebook, and stuffed it into his backpack just as she arrived.

"Lincoln!" she said hotly "Lana stole my dessert!"

Lincoln cocked an eyebrow at the younger twin "But today's desserts are cupcakes." he said "You actually let Lana steal a _cupcake_ from you?"

"I didn't let her do anything!" Lola said. "She bumped into me and my cupcake fell off my tray. I didn't want it then, so she ate it off the floor. The janitor just mopped the floor so she said it gave the cupcake a lemony fresh taste."

Lincoln chuckled at Lola's disgusted shudder. "So I told her to give me her dessert to make it fair." Lola said. "But she wouldn't do it. Will you make her give me her dessert?"

"Why don't you just ask your teacher?" Lincoln asked.

Lola scoffed. "Please, he's useless. And we both know that Lana will definitely listen to you. So just come over and set her straight already!"

"I have a better idea. You can just take my cupcake instead."

"What? No! That means that Lana will get to have two when I only got one!" Lola exclaimed.

Lincoln sighed and turned to look at Clyde. "Any chance I can get your cupcake, buddy? I'll pay you back with one of your favorite candy bars."

"Sure. Here you go." Clyde said, willingly passing over his dessert to Lola as well.

"There, happy now?" Lincoln asked.

"Very. Thank you Linky! You too Clyde." Lola said.

"Good, now go and sit back at your table. I'm busy."

"Busy?" Lola repeated. "Busy with what? It's lunchtime, Lincoln!"

"It's just geeky boy stuff that wouldn't interest you." Lincoln said.

Lola shrugged and turned to head back to her table. Lincoln watched her and once she was far enough away, he turned back to his friends. He opened his notebook again, looking for the page he had been on prior to Lola's arrival.

"Okay, so where were we?"

-A little later that day-

Lincoln had arrived home a little later that day than usual. He had needed to make a couple stops that required him to go out of his way. And since his parents would both be home later on, closer to dinnertime, he had to text Lori so she'd know he was going to be out for a bit. Otherwise he'd be facing her the moment he walked through the door, a scowl on her face as she awaited his explanation for being late. And he didn't need anything interfering with his efforts today. He was a man with a plan and that plan required a lot if it were to be accomplished.

He stepped into his room long enough to ditch his school bag and then he went back into the hallway. Taking the string that dangled from the attic door in hand, he gave a pull and made his way up. If his memory served right, and he was fairly confident that it did, then what he was looking for should be easy to find.

After only a minute or two of searching he found his quarry. But he then realized that he had forgotten his notebook and let out a small groan. It didn't do him too much good if he wasn't completely sure that he found what he needed. He'd just have to make a quick run back to his room and get it before putting everything back the way it was.

Lincoln turned around and was met with a surprise. A pale face with hidden eyes was only mere inches from his in the dimly lit attic.

"Hey Lincoln."

Lincoln stepped back, his pulse quickening for a moment. "Hey Lucy." he said as he grabbed his chest and took deep breaths. "What are you doing up here?"

"Writing haikus." Lucy said, lifting her book of handwritten poetry. "Traditional japanese poetry. Three lines with seventeen syllables. Five-Seven-Five. And I find that the smells of dust, cobwebs and solitude helps me think."

Lucy inhaled deeply through her nose, only to snort and choke on the musty air. Her tiny form was rocked by an enormous sneeze, making Lincoln step back to avoid the spray of droplets from her mouth. She snorted back the mucus threatening to fall from her nostrils, dabbed at her nose with a hankie using one hand, and wrote in her poetry book with the other.

"I take a deep breath"

"The scent of inspiration"

"Irritates my nose"

"Sorry to interrupt you." Lincoln said as he turned to leave.

"Wait." she said. "If you're leaving then why did you come up here?"

"I was going to look for something up here." he said. "But I don't wanna interrupt you with all my noise. I'll come back later."

"That's very considerate of you." Lucy said turning back to her book.

"My brother walks out"

"Leaving me in the attic"

"Alone with my thoughts"

Lincoln left the attic, grumbling a bit as he thought to himself. "Well that was a bust." he said. "But I can go back later. And there are still a few other things I can take care of around the house."

He ran back into his room, grabbed his backpack, and ran down the stairs. Once he made it to the livingroom, he ran over to the basement door and ran through it, making his way down the stairs. He dropped his backpack onto the floor,took a tape measure out of his pocket, and began measuring the inside of the room.

"The washer and dryer are in this corner." Lincoln said. "The radiator is over here. There are a few boxes of stuff that I can move to the attic to make room."

He retracted the tape measure and put it back into his pocket. "It might take some rearranging." he thought. "But it should work."

Lincoln went over to his backpack, pulled out his notebook and large piece of grid paper. He took an pencil and began sketching out his plan.

"If I put it over here." he mutter to himself. "And move these things to the sides, up against the walls, that should still leave enough of the floor open."

Lincoln smiled as the ideas began to form in his mind, and his hand raced over the paper, drawing the vision of his plan.

"I'm sure this'll work." he thought aloud. "And if it doesn't, then I'll find a way to make it work."

"Make what work?" Came a voice.

Lincoln jumped, startled for the second time that afternoon. He turned and found Lori standing behind him, the teen halfway between the stairs and the washing machine. Lincoln silently scolded himself for not keeping his thoughts in his head and then quickly thought up an answer for his sister's question.

"Uh, I'm planning on tidying up the basement as a favor to Mom and Dad this weekend." he told her. "And I figured I'd plan out what I'm going to do today so I can make quick work of it."

"So let me see if I have this right." Lori said. "Instead of joining your sisters on a trip to the mall..."

"Again." Lincoln cut in.

"Whatever. But you're literally telling me that you'd rather do an extra chore than at least _try_ to have a little fun with us this Saturday?"

Lincoln nodded. "Yup. Now if you'll please excuse me, I really should be heading upstairs. I have a little reading to do before class tomorrow."

He rushed past Lori and back up to the second floor of the house. He shut his bedroom door behind him and let out a sigh of relief.

"That was close. I'm going to need to proceed a lot more carefully from here on out." he thought. "I better start thinking up ways to duck my sisters and keep them out of the loop until Saturday."

He jumped onto his bed and laid back, staring up at the ceiling. This was starting to be a little more difficult then he thought. But he wasn't going to let that deter his efforts. This was going to happen. It needed to happen. And if that meant taking extra measures to avoid suspicion from his sisters, then fine. It would just make his eventual success all the more enjoyable.

 **Please review**  
 **And dont forget to send some love to my co-writer Twisteddarkness225**


	3. Chapter 3

It was a warm and breezy that Tuesday afternoon. School had just let out and the Loud siblings were all packed into Vanzilla, eagerly awaiting their return home.

Save for one, who chose to walk from school that day.

Lincoln walked up the sidewalk at a leisurely pace. As he got closer to the house, he spotted Vanzilla pulling into their driveway after it's trek to the different schools his sisters attended. He watched as his sisters scrambled to get out of Vanzilla and run into the house, smirking to himself as the last one entered.

"Great" he thought. "They're all inside."

He stopped in front of Mr Grouse's house, walked up to the door and knocked. His elderly neighbor opened the door after only a few moments.

"Good afternoon, Mr Grouse." he greeted warmly.

"Well if it isn't Lincoln Loud." Mr Grouse said "What brings you over to my door today?"

"I just need to talk to you about something." Lincoln said "About...a favor."

Mr Grouse narrowed his eyes at Lincoln. "A favor, huh." he repeated. "What kind of favor?

"I just need a minute to explain." Lincoln said "Can I come in?"

Mr Grouse frowned bit before stepping aside and letting Lincoln pass by him and enter his home. Lola's forehead scrunched a bit as she watched Lincoln from the window of their house.

"Lincoln's over at Mr Grouse's house today." Lola said. "I wonder what he's doing."

"He's probably going to ask to do chores around his house for extra cash." Luna said. "You know how Linc is about Takin' care of business."

"I dunno." Lola said. "Yesterday he was acting all secret about something at lunch. And today he didn't want to ride home with us. And now he's talking to Mr Grouse about who knows what? I think he's up to something."

"And just what do you believe our brother could possibly be doing while within Mr. Grouse's dwelling?" Lisa queried.

"No idea." Lola replied. "But I'm gonna find out! I'll be right back."

Lola left the house and walked next door. She rang the doorbell and put on her best 'sweet little angel' face. When Mr. Grouse answered, she spoke was a tone so sweet that it could give him cavities.

"Hi Mr. Grouse! I saw my big brother come over and I was just wondering if I could talk to him, pretty please?"

"Well if ya want to talk with him, you can find him upstairs. He's sorting through some old boxes in my attic, helping me figure out what to keep and what to toss out with the trash. Say, what's your opinion on me keeping my old jars of toenail clippings?"

Lola's face started to turn a mild shade of green. "Uhhh, no comment." She said. "Now I'll just be heading back home. I wouldn't want to bother Linky while he's working. Bye!"

The princess bolted back to the house and into the living room. She shuddered a little, grateful to be away from Mr. Grouse and his gross keepsakes. A part of her regretted going over because of that. But at least now she knew what Lincoln was up to, despite the fact she had expected something juicier than him just doing chores for some extra cash.

"So, what's our bro up to?" Luna asked.

"Hopefully he's convincing Mr. Grouse to get rid of an icky old collection of toenails!" Lola said, feeling her tummy churn a little at the very mention of it.

"Cool!" Lana said. "So if Mr. Grouse is getting rid of them, do you think he might give them to me?"

"NO! We are NOT having something that gross in our room!" Lola exclaimed with finality. "And don't you dare even think of trying to start one of your own!"

Lola stormed off into the kitchen, wishing to obtain some comfort food. And as she went to get some milk and cookies, Lana turned to Luna and gave her a knowing smile.

"I'm still gonna do it."

-Later that day-

Lincoln closed his math book, having finished the last of the assigned problems to solve that day for homework. He set his things back into his schoolbag and then took out the notebook pages he'd been storing inside of his comic book box. He had been tearing them out of the notebook as he wrote down more and more, keeping them in order with a paperclip. But now, as he looked over them again, he began to notice how unorganized it all was. It was time to fix that.

Using one of his notebooks that actually had notes from school in it as a decoy, Lincoln began to sort through all of the listed things he and the guys had put together. That way, should he suddenly find himself with an unexpected visitor, he could just close it and leave them none the wiser. After a little more than five minutes, he had set all of his plans into a single, detailed outline.

"There, much better." he said to himself as he folded the single paper and tucked it away into the hiding place. "Now, what to do with these older papers?"

After a moment's thought, he decided to stuff them into his pocket and make sure to leave them there when it was time to put his clothes into the dirty laundry. He'd start a load himself, making sure the papers would be ruined by the washing machine. The thought of shredding them and flushing them down the toilet came to mind, but he felt that this method would be better.

Lincoln checked the time. It wasn't quite time for dinner yet, and hopefully the same would be true for Ronnie Anne's family. He needed to talk to her next and sent her a text, asking her to have her laptop ready for a video call. Once she replied, he took out his laptop and started it up. He waited a few minutes before calling Ronnie Anne, the girl answering almost instantly.

"Hey Lame-O, what's up?" She asked.

"Not much. I just really needed to talk to you." he replied.

"Oh? Does someone miss me?" Ronnie Anne teased.

"Yup. I'm starting to turn into another Lori." Lincoln joked. "I literally can't go one day without talking to my Boo-Boo Bear." he added, mocking his eldest sister's voice.

"Same here Babe." Ronnie Anne said, mimicking her brother. "A day without you is a day without sunshine."

The two laughed for a moment before Lincoln cleared his throat, wanting to get back to the matter at hand.

"Anyway. I have something big planned and could really use some help. And I knew the best person to call on."

"Aw, thanks." Ronnie Anne said, twirling the tip of her ponytail with her finger.

"Could I talk to your grandma for a few minutes?"

Ronnie Anne frowned at his question before answering with an indifferent sounding 'Sure'.

She took her laptop into the kitchen where her grandmother was chopping onions to add into their next meal. The radio played a sad song, Rosa singing along with the lyrics.

 _Ay de mí, llorona_

 _Llorona de azul celeste_

 _Ay de mí, llorona, llorona_

 _Llorona de azul celeste_

 _Y aunque la vida me cuesta llorona_

 _No dejare de quererte_

"Hey grandma." Ronnie Anne said. "Sorry to interrupt, but Lincoln wants to talk to you about something."

Rosa turned her tearstained face to the computer. "Lincoln," she said happily. "Como estas mijito?"

"I'm just fine." he said. "But are you OK? It looks like you've been crying."

Rosa dabbed at her streaming eyes with her apron. "Oh it's nothing." she said. "Just from the onions and the music. Un momento, por favor."

She walked over to the sink and began splashing cold water on her face to rinse out her stinging eyes. Ronnie Anne set the laptop down on the counter and pulled up a chair to sit in, her mouth firmly set in a frown.

"Aww, what's wrong Ronnie Anne?" Asked Carl as he sauntered into the kitchen. "Having some trouble with your boyfriend?"

Carl puckered his lips and made wet kissing noises at them. "That's not funny." Ronnie Anne said. "And he's not my boyfriend!"

"Well that's good to hear." Carl said. "You could so so much better than someone who's head looks like el trasero de un pato."

Carl snickered loudly at the look on Lincoln's face, just before Ronnie Anne lightly slapped the back of his head.

"Shut up Carl!" Ronnie Anne said. "He didn't choose the color of his hair!"

"And for your information." Lincoln said pointing to his cowlick. "This is called a turkey tail. Not a duck's butt, a turkey tail."

Lincoln stretched out the words as a faint redness crept into Carl's face. "You...speak spanish?" he asked.

"Si." Lincoln said. "Cuando vivían aquí, en Royal Woods. Bobby ... oh, lo siento ... quiero decir Roberto, me mostró cómo."

Carl's jaw lowered a bit as his face turned redder. Rosa had an amused look on her face. While Ronnie Anne struggled to contain her laughter.

"Es por eso que no se debe burlar de la gente directamente a sus rostros." Rosa said to her grandson in a scolding manner.

"She's right you know." Lincoln agreed.

Carl gave a nervous laugh before saying "Tell Lori I said hi!" and running out of the room.

"So, what was it you needed, Lincoln?" Rosa asked.

-Meanwhile-

"I miss you more, Bobby Boo-Boo Bear!" Lori cooed.

"No, I miss you more, Babe!" Bobby returned over the screen of Lori's tablet.

"No, I miss you more!" Lori playfully returned.

"Not as much as I miss you!"

Lori giggled. "Well, if that's the case, then maybe you need to come and see me in person sometime soon!"

"Or you could come to see me instead." Bobby suggested. "You still need to get more familiar with the city and I found a new restaurant we can try!"

"Ooh, we haven't gone out for dinner together in literally forever!" Lori ecstatically exclaimed. "What kind of restaurant is it?"

"Well, it's..." Bobby began before trailing off. He leaned over a moment before looking back at Lori. "Hang on. I'm getting called into the other room. Lincoln needs to talk to me. Be right back."

Lori started blankly at her tablet's screen for a moment. "Lincoln?" She repeated, completely puzzled.

She got up from her bed and left her room. Looking down the hall at Lincoln's room she scowled and stormed her way over. Then she pounded her fist on the door.

"Lincoln!"

The door opened and Lincoln peeked out. His brow was furrowed and his mouth was set into a frown. He opened his door a little more and crossed his arms.

"I'm a little busy." He said. "What do you want?"

"Don't you be rude with me, mister." Lori warned.

"Says the one who's trying to knock down my door." Lincoln countered. "What's got your shorts in a bunch?"

"Are you playing some sort of prank on me?" His sister asked bluntly. "Because Bobby just left me waiting in the middle of our daily video chat to talk to _you_. You know we talk everyday at this time, so what do you think you're doing cutting into that?"

Lincoln rolled his eyes. "Actually, I had no idea. I just wanted to ask Bobby something important. But if it's more important to you to talk to him this very second, then fine. Just make sure that he gets back to me ASAP. I have to talk to him about it right away."

"And just what do you have that is so dang important?"

"I want to send a present to Ronnie Anne as a surprise and need ideas." Lincoln answered. "And who better to help than her big brother?"

"A present? Her birthday isn't coming up. What's the occasion?" Lori asked.

"Do I need one to do something nice for her?"

Lori's eyes widened a bit. Then a big smile came to her face and she looked at her brother with adoration in her eyes.

"Aww, that's so sweet of you!" She said, her attitude having gone a full 180 degrees. "I'll leave you to talk to him for a bit, but he literally has to finish talking to me afterwards. And you had better let me know what you're doing for Ronnie Anne. I can help you out if you need me to!"

She turned to leave and Lincoln let out a sigh of relief. His diversion had worked. For a moment he almost regretted having said that he was going to prepare a gift for Ronnie Anne. Lori could have very easily insisted on helping him with it and then he'd be stuck. Fortunately it worked out this time. But he made a mental note to put extra effort into his excuses for future occasions.

Lincoln shut his door and sat back down in front his computer. "Sorry for the interruption." he said to the members of the Casagrande family. "So what do you think? Will you help me out here?"

Rosa burst into laughter. "Of course, Lincoln!" she said. "I'd be happy to help!"

"Same here." Ronnie Anne said. "This sounds like it's gonna be a blast!"

"I'll help too." Bobby said. "But...I hope Lori won't be too mad at me after this."

"Don't worry." Lincoln said. "I'm betting she'll be more mad at me that anyone else."

Rosa walked away from the computer. "I better get started." she said giddily as she pulled a book off a shelf and flipped through the pages. "So much to do and so little time."

"Relax grandma." Ronnie Anne said. "You have until Saturday." She turned back to the screen "See you then, Lame-O." she said just before ending the call.

Lincoln smiled and grabbed his notebook off his dresser. He turned to the page he needed and crossed out one of the lines.

"One down." he thought. "Four days left."

-The next day-

School had just ended and the kids stormed out of the buidling like a herd of cattle. Lincoln and Zach walked side by side, chatting with each other.

"So you've got it all covered?" Lincoln asked.

"You bet." Zach said. "I talked to Giggles and she's all set. When should we swing by with your stuff?"

"Make it some time later today." Lincoln said. "I've already cleared it with Mr Grouse, he knows you're coming."

"Gotcha." Zach said "I'll see you later."

Zach walked off as Lincoln pulled off his backpack. He rummaged around for his notebook, pulled it out and opened it to a page.

"Let's see." he said, looking through his list. "Lori and Leni are going to the mall. Lynn has baseball practice. Luna's got band practice. Lucy's with the Morticians Club. Lisa's giving a lecture at the college. Lana and Luan will be at home with Mom and Dad. Lola's at her pageant studio..."

He thought for a moment. "That would be a good place to find..." he stopped. "But if she's there right now..."

He shut his notebook. "It's a risky move." he thought as he stuffed it back into his bag. "But I might as well get this one over with now."

Lincoln hopped onto his bike and put his helmet on, thinking over the route he'd need to take to get to the studio. Lola had gone early, as she often did, to get a head start before the other pageant girls arrived. It was a way for her to focus without any chance of being interrupted or distracted. That and to keep her routines more secret until it was her turn to perform. She often bragged about how it kept her a step ahead of her rivals, including one in particular who was never there at the studio before she was.

And that was what Lincoln was counting on. It was a narrow chance given the current time. But as long as he didn't have any delays on the way there, he was fairly sure that he could make it. Otherwise he'd have to either wait until the were all done for the day, or just try to sneak in and avoid Lola's detection.

Yeah...right. He'd have better luck convincing Lori to play Swords and Cyborgs. Lola was in her element, she wouldn't miss a thing going on around her once the other girls arrived. She'd definitely recognize him, even if he wore a disguise. She was crafty like that. And if she spotted him, she'd defintely come over to figure out what was going on.

He'd just have to make it there in time. It meant taking a few side streets along the way, making the distance a little longer. Luckily his gut instinct paid off as he didn't have to wait to cross at busy intersections. As he neared the studio he slowed to a stop and peeked at his watch, finding himself two minutes early. Now he just had to hope that the person he was looking for hadn't arrived early too.

Approximately ninety seconds later, a car pulled into the parking lot and a young girl was dropped off. Lincoln recognized her immediately and pedaled over while the car drove off, taking a parking space at a nail salon across the street. As he got closer, the girl took notice of him and started to walk a little faster. But he, in turn, just pedaled faster.

"Lindsay, wait up!" he called.

"Do I know you?" Lindsay coldly replied, stopping and turning to glare at him.

"Yeah. I'm Lola's big brother. Lincoln." He said, taking off his helmet. "Is it okay if I talk to you for a minute?"

"It can wait until _after_ I've practiced my routine. You can sit and wait here until then."

"But it's kind of important!" Lincoln insisted. "I would really prefer we talked now, please."

"Don't care." Lindsay said, continuing on her way. "It can't be more important than preparing for the next pageant."

"What if I told you that what I want to talk about is something that Lola wouldn't like?" Lincoln asked.

Lindsay stopped in her tracks. She slowly turned to face him, a wide smile on her face and an intrigued look in her eyes.

"I'm listening."

Inside of Miss Liza's pageant training center, several preteen girls wearing sparkling dresses of many different colors scrambled around. Some were chatting with each other, others were practicing parts of their routines. Lola sat in front of a mirror, lighting spritzing herself with her favorite perfume. She sniffed the sweet scented mist and smiled at her reflection.

"You are one beautiful girl" Lola said.

"Hi Lola!" said a cheerful voice.

Lola looked at the mirror to see a brunette girl with tan skin in a turquoise dress behind her in the reflected surface.

"Roxanne!" Lola said happily. "So good to see you. Pull up a chair, there's plenty of mirror for the both of us."

Roxanne pulled a chair beside Lola and began doing her makeup. "Sorry I'm so late." Roxanne said. "My nail appointment ran a bit longer than I was expecting. But I think it was worth it, don't you?"

Roxanne showed Lola her freshly manicured and polished fingernails. They were polished so well that Lola could see her reflection it each one.

"Very nice." Lola said in an approving voice. "What do you think of mine?"

Lola showed Roxanne her nails, neatly trimmed and painted magenta. Roxanne smiled.

"This is top quality work" Roxanne said. "How much did you pay for this?"

"Not a dime." Lola said. "I just happen to have connections with one of the best manicurists in town who will always make time for me."

Roxanne giggled. "Is that code for 'My big brother does my nails for me'?" she asked.

Lola quickly held a finger to Roxanne's lips. "Shhh!" she said looking around nervously. "Not so loud. I can't have any of those harpies hearing any of my pageant secrets."

"Sorry." Roxanne said quietly. "Do you think he could do my nails too?"

Lola narrowed her eyes. "Maybe." she said. "I won't make any promises during pageant season. But when we have a sleepover, I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"Yay!" Roxanne cheered happily clapped her hands.

"Excuse me." said a voice.

Roxanne and Lola turned to see a tanned girl in a purple dress and gold tiara. "Did I hear you mention something about your brother?"

Lola's eyes darted around nervously. "Uh, no" she said. "Why would we be talking about Lincoln? And...why do you ask?"

"Because I saw him outside." said the girl. "Talking to Lindsay Sweetwater."

Lola's eyes widened and her face went pale. "He's what?" she said quietly.

Lola ran over to the window and looked outside to see Lindsay casually chatting with Lincoln. They both appeared to be smiling and Lindsay handed him what appeared to be a business card. It took all of Lola's self control not to scream in utter fury.

"What does she think she's doing?" Lola said through tightly clenched teeth.

Lola ran to the door and stormed outside, moving as quickly as she could in her heels. The thought of going without them crossed her mind, but she wasn't interested in walking through the parking lot with no shoes on. Plus, the heels would prove useful if she needed to give a certain someone a swift kick to the tushy. So it was even more worth it.

Lincoln noticed his little sister approaching. As he expected, she was very displeased to see him associating with Lindsay. He would need to choose his words carefully as her temper could be as unstable as Lisa's expired chemicals. Especially so if she was in a bad mood. And there was no doubts in Lincoln's mind that catching him talking to her pageant rival would put Lola in a _very_ bad mood.

"Oh, hey Lola." he greeted, trying his best to sound nonchalant. There was a touch of nervousness in his voice though. He'd be ashamed of himself if it were any other six year old who was intimidating him. But this was Lola. And she was currently wearing heels. One mispoken word and he'd be regretting it before he'd even know it was coming.

"Don't you 'Hey Lola' me, mister!" The feisty blonde hissed before thrusting her arm out and pointing at Lindsay. "Just what are you doing out here with _her_?!"

Lindsay frowned and turned up her nose, as though she had just noticed someone had neglected to pick up after their dog while out for a walk. She crossed her arms and managed to give the other girl a cocky grin. The sight of it only irritated Lola further, which in turn only egged Lindsay into wanting to push her buttons.

"Jealous?" She asked. "I imagine you would be. You have such a generous brother, offering to help me out of the blue like that. I never would have guessed a boy would be willing to do nails and hair _and_ dry cleaning all at once! And for such a modest price too."

Lola's anger vanished and her jaw dropped. There was a moment of fear in her eyes and Lincoln could swear that he saw them getting just a tiny bit moist. Now he really did regret his decision. A heel print on his butt cheek would be far more preferable than making any of his sisters cry. He was a bit tempted to kick himself in the butt just because of how upset Lola was starting to look.

Of course, that didn't last for long. In the next few seconds her anger returned full force, like dying embers being doused with lighter fluid. She turned her attention to him, her fists clenched and her face set into a fierce scowl.

"How dare you! You'd go and help one of my enemies beat me in a pageant and you'd dare to do it for money?!"

"Hey..." Lincoln said, slowly raising up his hands with his palms facing outwards. "I'm not trying to sabotage you or anything. It's not like I'm training her like I do with you. I'm only doing cosmetic stuff. Hair and nails, that's it. I swear."

"But of course..." Lindsay went on, ignoring what the boy had said. "I'm trying to hire him for a _job_. You have to do what you boss says when you're working for someone else. And I'm sure he'd open up to sharing some of his other pageant secrets for a little extra cash. Wouldn't you?"

"No he wouldn't!" Lola said in outrage.

Lincoln's eyes flitted over from his sister to her rival. "Uh..." he began in a shaky voice. "How much extra cash?"

Lola gasped loudly as Lindsay grinned. "Oh no." She said. "No way. Not in this lifetime. So help me, he wouldn't work for you no matter how much you paid him."

"Well that's for him to decide now isn't it?" Lindsay asked. "What do you say, Lincoln?"

Lincoln looked over at Lola's slowly reddening face. Biting back the urge to laugh, he shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno.." he said. "Can I have some time to think about this?"

"Take all he time you need" Lindsay said as she walked past the two siblings. "But just know if you ever want to use that pageant know how of yours to earn some extra money, you can look me up."

Lindsay turned back to give a friendly wave to Lincoln, and a sly wink to Lola. Who began to grind her teeth angrily.

"How could you?" Lola asked. "How could you?!"

"How could I what?" Lincoln asked. "I was looking for extra money and Lindsay just offered me a job. What's the big deal?"

"If you needed money, you could've just come to me." Lola said.

Lincoln rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right." Lincoln said. "Like you'd actually give me money without a catch."

"I'd sooner give you money without a catch than lose my pageant coach to Lindsay Sweetwater!" Lola shrieked.

Lincoln stepped back at the force of Lola's voice. "Do you realize just how much of my pageant career you were part of?" she asked grabbing his collar"How many of my victories you had a hand in? How hard it is to find someone who can brush hair, paint nails, and steam clean a chiffon dress ALL AT THE SAME TIME?!. I can't afford to lose my pageant coach!"

"Wow, Lola." Lincoln said. "I didn't know you cared so much."

"Of course I care!" Lola shouted as she shook him back and forth "Those pageant girls are selfish, catty, backstabbing vultures. And they're always looking for a leg up on thier competition. You turned Lana into pageant material in less than a day. LANA! If any of them found out about you, then my pageant career is as good as over!"

Lincoln's eyes narrowed. "Oh.." he said. "So that's what you care so much about."

"Lola." Roxanne called out from the studio. "Miss Liza is here. It's time for practice."

Lola turned back to her brother, whio flinched at the angry look on her face. "Don't think we're done talking about this yet, mister!" she said hotly.

Lola stormed off towards the pageant studio, trying her best to pull her angry face back into her signature, pageant-winning smile. Lincoln shook his head at her as she left, and pulled out the business card Lindsay gave him earlier. He looked it over to find her phone number and e-mail address. He smiled as he walked back over to his bike.

"Got it." he thought to himself. "That's one down."

Lincoln added the new information to his phone's contacts list and then he hopped onto his bike's seat. He began to pedal his way down the street, making his way into a more than familiar neighborhood. Eventually the McBride residence came into view and he picked up a little speed to reach his destination sooner. As he got off of his bike and removed his helmet, he took notice of two other bikes that happened to be set on their kickstands by the garage. A sign that things were working out well with Clyde's end of the work.

Setting his bike beside the others, Lincoln went up to the front door and rang the bell. The door was opened shortly after by Harold McBride who greeted Lincoln warmly as he always did.

"Lincoln, how nice to see you. Please come on in. Clyde has been expecting you."

He led the boy into the house and into the spacious living room where Clyde was entertaining some company. Polly Pain, Tabby and Haiku were all seated by the coffee table and enjoying a snack tray of apple slices and grapes. Clyde waved at his best friend as he came into the room, the three girls all turning to greet him as well.

"Good to see ya, Lincoln!" Tabby said in a chipper tone.

"Hello Lincoln." Haiku said in her usual monotone.

"Heya Linc! How ya been?" Polly asked, extending her fist to give him a playful punch on the arm.

"I'm good, thanks. It's nice to see all of you again too." Lincoln replied, rubbing the sore spot on his arm. "So, I take it that Clyde told you about what we're up to?"

"Yup!" Polly said. "And you can count us in!"

Tabby nodded. "That's right, we'll be happy to help out!"

"Happy is a strong word. But regardless, I will also participate." Haiku replied.

"Awesome! And you gave Clyde your contact info?" Lincoln asked.

"They sure did!" Clyde said, holding up his phone. "We're all set. And I managed to take care of my list too. Did it first thing after school."

Lincoln gave his best buddy a thumbs up. "Perfect! We should be able to take care of the rest tomorrow at school. Then we just need to wait for Saturday. Thanks Clyde. Sorry I can't stay, but I need to get back home soon so I should be going."

Clyde began to look a little disappointed. "Aw, man. Well, at least take some fresh fruit with you. Hang on, I'll get a baggie for you to put them in."

The bespectacled boy got up and left the room. While Lincoln waited, Tabby and Polly also got up from there seats, Polly grabbing a handful of grapes before she dashed towards the door.

"I actually have to get going too. I got practice in a little while. Thanks for the snacks Clyde!" Polly called out before leaving.

"I'll be off as well." Tabby said, slinging her backpack over one shoulder. "Got a test to study for. But we need to meet up sometime and jam again, alright Lincoln?"

"Sure. Sounds good to me." Lincoln said, waving to Tabby as she went out the door.

The door closed and Lincoln was left alone with Haiku in the living room. The goth girl let out a sigh and reached out for an apple slice.

"Finally." she breathed, taking a small bite.

"Something wrong?" Lincoln asked.

"It's nothing. I just thought that when Clyde invited me over, that I was the only girl who would be here." Haiku flatly stated.

At first, Lincoln wasn't entirely sure what the problem was. But as the gears in his head turned, it suddenly occurred to him just what was going on.

"Ohhh." he said with realization. "I had no idea you felt that way. Does Clyde know?"

"Of course not." The girl replied, her eyes falling onto her half eaten apple slice. "I'm aware of his feelings for another woman. I know I cannot compete with someone who he holds in such a high regard."

"Well...maybe you should tell him anyway. Who knows? Maybe things will turn out differently than you expect."

"I'll take your advice into consideration."

Translation: she wasn't going to do it anyway. Lincoln frowned a little and turned to face Clyde as he reentered the room with a ziploc bag of apples and grapes for him to take home. An idea popped into his head and he smiled at the thought.

"Here you go, buddy." Clyde said, holding out the fruit for Lincoln. "I'll see you later. Maybe online?"

"Sure, after dinner we can play something." Lincoln said, accepting the snacks. "See you later, Haiku." He said to the girl, giving her a wave. "And don't worry about talking to Clyde about what's going on. Trust me when I say he's a great listener."

Lincoln left, practically grinning ear to ear as he got to the door. Haiku sat wide eyed, the faintest touch of pink on her cheeks as she figured out what the white haired boy had just done. But he was already gone before she could say anything, leaving her to turn her attention to Clyde, who was sitting beside her.

"Did you need to talk to me about something Haiku?" he asked politely.

Back outside, Lincoln got back onto his bike and put on his helmet. He kicked up the kickstand and began to ride towards Franklin Avenue. Things were going pretty smoothly. He would make sure to look over his plans again when he got home to be sure, but he was certain that he was practically ready to put everything into action come Saturday. Just a couple more things to take care of and that would be that.

Yup. Everything was going according to plan.

Suddenly, somebody stepped in front of him. Lincoln hit the brakes, skidding to a stop just in front of him. A very large, burly boy with a mullet had cut him off. It was Hawk, the bully from Hazeltucky. And he seemed a little too pleased to see Lincoln at the moment.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the little weasel who tricked us last Halloween."

"What a coincidence." came another voice, just before Lincoln found himself being picked up by Hawk's partner in bullying, Hank. "I was just thinkin' I'd like to give someone an atomic wedgie."

Lincoln swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat. "Oh, hey guys." he weakly said as he began to break out in a cold sweat. "I don't suppose that either of you would be interested in just talking? Would you?"

 **Please review**  
 **And dont forget to send some love to my co-writer Twisteddarkness225**


	4. Chapter 4

Lincoln shut the front door behind him and resisted the urge to slump down onto the floor. His encounter with Hank and Hawk had been enough to redefine the word 'unnerving' and he was just so grateful to have managed to escape unscathed. Not that it hadn't taken some very strong negotiations on his part.

After taking a moment to recuperate from the hasty ride back home, Lincoln ventured into the kitchen and grabbed a juice box from the fridge. He poked the straw inside and siphoned out the sweet refreshment, savoring it's flavor and feeling it help him cool down a little bit. Once he finished it, he tossed it into the trash and then went up to his room. There was still work to be done and he now had to deal with a delay thanks to his unforeseen meet up with the bullies.

The house was uncharacteristically quiet at the moment. Many of his sisters were still out and about. But he knew it would only be a matter of time until they all came back home. He would need to take full advantage of this opportunity to compensate for lost time.

Retrieving his hidden plans, Lincoln quickly reviewed them and crossed out the things that had been attended to thus far. Next, using one of his favorite Ace Savvy comics to hide his plans, he began to walk around the house. He checked the bathroom, the living and dining rooms, the kitchen and then he walked out into the back yard. With each step he was mentally piecing things together and keeping an eye out for any sign of his sisters. Finally he reached the garage and opened the side door, stepping inside and turning the light on.

"Alright, things don't look so bad so far." he thought. "I may not need as much time as I originally planned. If I can get a head start tomorrow, then I can everything ready before my sisters are even halfway to the mall. On Saturday morning, I'll start with the basement and work my way up."

Feeling satisfied with his little walk, Lincoln chose to return inside and actually reread his comic to try and unwind a little. He had earned it, especially with how well he had done handling himself with...Hank and Hawk. Oh, right. There was still something else he needed to take care of first.

It looked like he'd need to head back out after all.

He made a run up to his room to stash the plans back into their hiding place, taking a minute to review the changes he had made just a few minutes prior. Then he grabbed his bike helmet again and went back out to his bike. He'd need to make this quick. If his sisters caught him when he got back, then he'd really be in for it.

They'd _never_ let him just walk past them with any amount of chocolate without asking for some. And with the amount he needed to get, they'd be all over him before he could have enough time to blink.

The candy store, a charming little building that was oddly enough next door to the dentist's office where his mother worked, was not too busy at the moment. Many of the customers that day had been kids who had just completed classes and sought out something sweet to rewards themselves after enduring another school day. So Lincoln was able to get right up to the counter where a familiar face was running the register. Joey, a classmate of Lori's as well as a fellow Ace Savvy fan like Lincoln. He couldn't have planned it out better if he tried.

"Hey, little Ace!" Joey greeted with a wave. "How you doing?"

"I'm good." Lincoln replied. "But I am going to need some help. I need to make a big purchase."

"How big are we talking?"

"Very."

A short while later, Joey was helping Lincoln tie a medium sized cardboard box to the back of his bike. The two boys checked to make sure that it was secure and then Joey held out his hand towards Lincoln, which the boy shook.

"Pleasure doing business with ya." Joey said. "Just do me a favor and keep it under wraps that I cut you a deal. I can't have everyone thinking they can do the same."

"Consider my lips sealed. And thanks again! See you on Saturday?" Lincoln asked.

"You know it! Later, little Ace. Don't eat that all at once!"

The teen turned and reentered the store while Lincoln got back onto his bike and began planning out his ride. He could take the sidewalk down a few blocks before reaching Ketcham park. There he'd cut through in order to try and save himself some time. After that he'd need to stick to the main roads to avoid getting lost since he wasn't too familiar with the area.

He walked his bike for a bit, checking to make absolutely sure that the box wouldn't come loose at all. It would be a real shame if it fell at any point before he got to his destination. So far it seemed to be holding up okay. Hopefully that would remain unchanged once he got going for real.

As he passed by the alley next to the candy store a noise caught his attention. He turned to see the lid to a dumpster had suddenly flipped up. Then a pair of dirty hands reached up and gripped the edge. Lincoln stopped in his tracks as he recognized who they belonged to.

Lana was there.

His younger sisters dirty face popped out of the dumpster. It was stained with brown smudges, and once she hopped out, he could see brown smudges covering every inch of her. She saw him and waved, wiping her mouth on the back of her other hand.

"Hey Lincoln!" she said cheerfully. "Did mom and dad send you to come get me?"

"No." Lincoln said. "What are you even doing here? I mean yeah, it's a dumpster so I know you'd be inside one in your spare time. But why are you in this dumpster right now?"

"It's Wednesday." Lana said holding up a small brown cube. "The candy store always throws out the stale fudge on Wednesday. And I scored big time!"

She was just about to stuff the cube into her mouth before noticing the box on the back of his bike. "Hey, whats that?" Lana asked as she dropped the cube and ran up to look into the box.

"Hey hey!" Lincoln said as he pulled her away from the box, "Keep out of there!"

But it was too late, she had already seen its contents. With a bar of chocolate in each hand, Lana drooled like a waterfall. "Whoa!" she said as Lincoln took the chocolate bars away from her. "Looks like you scored pretty big yourself."

"Not really." Lincoln said as he put the bars back in the box. "These aren't for me. I'm delivering them to someone else."

Lana reached back towards the box. "Milk chocolate." she read. "Crisped rice, peanuts almonds, coconut, caramel, cookie bits, peanut butter, walnuts. I'm getting cavities just looking at them. Can I have some?"

"No way." Lincoln said. "I just told you these aren't for me."

"I know." Lana said. "That's why I asked. I figured if they were yours you'd says no, but since they aren't you'd say yes."

Lincoln stared at Lana blankly. "Since they aren't for me, that means they aren't mine to give away." he said. "What kind of logic are you using?"

"The kind that convinces you to give me chocolate?" Lana said hopefully.

"Afraid not." he said turning back to his bike.

"C'mon." Lana said, locking her fingers together and putting on her best set of puppy dog eyes. "Please! What do you want me to do? Cry? Because there's half an onion in that dumpster I can use."

"Don't get greedy, Lana." Lincoln said. "You've had plenty of fudge already. Although it looks like you got more of it on you than in you."

Lana looked down at the brown smudges that covered her clothes "Actually most of this is mud." she said. "See?"

She swiped a finger in one stain and sniffed it before sticking it in her mouth. "Oh wait." she said. "That one was fudge."

As Lana searched over the stains on her clothes, Lincoln looked out into the horizon. The sun was just starting to set. "I don't have time for this." he thought.

Lincoln looked past Lana to see a small group of what looked like grubby, balls of fur scampering around in the alley. "Lana, look." Lincoln said "Rats!"

Lana gasped. "Where?" she said looking around frantically.

As soon as she turned, Lincoln set off on his bike, pedaling as fast as he could. He had a lot of ground to cover and the sooner he got where he was going, the sooner he could be on his way back home. He'd need to get back before the street lights came on as always, and he expected to be able to do so.

His ride was pretty uneventful for the most part. A good thing as he didn't want to risk any further delays or distractions. He wasn't sure just how the two older, and much stronger boys would react if he took too long. With luck they would be satisfied with the haul Lincoln was bringing them and not care about the wait.

Soon enough, Lincoln arrived at the base of a large tree that held a wooden structure up in its branches. The tree house where Hank and Hawk lounged about when they weren't off bullying in their free time was just as Lincoln remembered it from his unpleasant visit on Halloween. At least this time he was told to come over so he wouldn't need to worry about things going as poorly as last time. At least that's what Lincoln kept telling himself. He really hoped that he was right.

"Uh, hello?" He called up to the tree house, cupping his hands around his mouth as he spoke. "I'm here with the payment you asked for!"

Hank poked his head out of the opening that served as a window. His eyes locked onto the box Lincoln had brought and he grinned. He climbed down halfway and then jumped the rest of the distance down, landing right beside Lincoln who jumped in surprise. Hawk followed shortly after, also taking a leap down to the ground.

The two bullies took the box off of Lincoln's bike and inspected their goods. Hawk ripped the wrapper off of a Herschel's chocolate bar with almonds and biting into it. Hank meanwhile looked over the rest of the variety Lincoln had provided. There were Herschel's, Munch, Ms. Finebar and Asteroid Belt bars among others that filled the box. Hank nodded approvingly and gave Lincoln a pat on the shoulder.

"Way to pull through on the deal, squirt. We've got enough here to last us the rest of the week!"

"Or not." Hawk added, finishing off his candy bar. "We might eat them all before Friday."

Lincoln laughed nervously. "Well it's a good thing I still owe you guys the other half of the payment. You'll get it on Saturday, as promised. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to be going. My mom will be upset if I don't get home before dark."

He turned to get back onto his bike and got ready to leave. But before he could start pedaling, he felt a strong grip take his shoulder. Hank had him in an iron grip that left Lincoln feeling too afraid to move a muscle.

"Hang on a minute, kid. You forgot something."

"I did?" Lincoln asked, his voice nervous as could be.

"Yeah, you didn't tell us what time we'd meet up on Saturday ." Hawk said, unwrapping another bar of chocolate.

"Oh! I should be ready by one in the afternoon."

"Well we'll be there at noon." Hank said. "So don't leave us waiting. Got it?"

Lincoln nodded timidly. "Got it."

"Good. See you then, squirt."

Hank released his grip and Lincoln started to leave. He kept a steady pace at first. But once he was no longer in the line of sight of the other two boys, he booked it like crazy. it wasn't until he had gotten halfway back home that he finally slowed down again. He decided to take a little detour to Flip's to get an ice-cold Flippee to help calm his nerves. Even though the bullies hadn't done anything, he had still been intimidated by them. But at least now that was behind him.

-The next day-

School had ended, and all eleven Loud Siblings had scattered around the house.

Lincoln peeked out of his room, his eyes locked on the entrance to Luan and Luan's room. He crept outside, tiptoe-ing his way over to the entrance. He stuck his head inside and looked around, the room was empty. Lincoln grinned for a moment before making his way over to Luan's side table. He opened the drawer, pulled out a notebook, and began flipping though it until he found the page he was looking for. He smiled at it.

"Gotcha." he said to himself.

"Hey Lincoln!" said a nasally voice. "What do you think you're doing?"

He looked up to see Luan's beloved ventriloquist dummy looking down at him from its place on Luan's dresser.

"With all time you spend in only your underwear." said the dummy "I'd have thought you'd know it's rude to go through someone elses' drawers!"

Lincoln turned to see Luan standing in the doorway with a smile on her face. She laughed at the look on her brothers' face. "I've been working on my long distance ventriloquism. So, what are you doing going through my stuff?" She asked.

"Sorry, I wasn't trying to snoop." Lincoln said. "But I've got plans this weekend and I just wanted to make sure you didn't need an assistant this Saturday."

"You could've just asked." Luan said. "I don't have another gig until next weekend."

"Lincoln!" called his father. "Can you come down and help me in the kitchen really quick?"

"Sure dad!" Lincoln said. "I'm on my way!"

Lincoln ran past his sister, sped down the hall and stairs and into the kitchen. Lincoln walked up to his father, humming casually as he cooked dinner for his family. He motioned over to two cooling dishes of lasagna on the counter.

"Got your order ready." he said "Two dishes of Lynn-sagna. One with double cheese and one with extra garlic and mushrooms."

"Thanks dad." Lincoln said as he grabbed the dishes. "I'll be right back."

Lincoln took out some aluminum foil and covered the food. Then he took a pair of oven mitts and used them to pick them up, balancing one in each hand. He went outside and headed next door to Mr Grouse's house. He kicked the door a few times since neither of his arms were free.

"I'm coming!" called an elderly voice, "Hold your horses!"

Mr Grouse opened his door to see Lincoln standing on his porch holding the payment for his services. He frowned at the boy, but licked his lips at the sight of the food he was holding.

"C'mon in." he said.

He stepped aside and allowed Lincoln in, taking a moment to inhale the intoxicating scent of the two dishes of hot food. Lincoln went into the kitchen and set them down onto the counter. Mr. Grouse immediately peeled back the foil on one of them, helping himself to a nice, large serving. He sat down at his kitchen table and gestured for Lincoln to join him.

"So, what was it you needed now?" Mr. Grouse asked.

"Just everything written here." Lincoln answered, handing Mr. Grouse an envelope. "There should be enough money in there to cover everything."

Mr. Grouse opened the envelope, pulling out a folded piece of paper. He adjusted his glasses and took a look over it, nodding as he did so.

"Seems easy enough. Alright Loud, I'll have all of this set for ya on Saturday. And tell your father to make sure he makes my next payment just the way he did these ones. This is dang good lasagna!"

He scooped big forkful into his mouth, his tastebuds going wild from the zesty, yet hearty flavor. Lincoln thanked his neighbor and then showed himself out. He turned left as he approached the sidewalk, heading not for home but instead towards downtown. His leisurely walk brought him to Flip's Food & Fuel, where the greedy proprietor was awaiting his arrival.

When Lincoln walked into the store he saw a long line going up to the register. Flip was clearly too busy at the moment, so Lincoln began to browse around while he waited for the line to go down. Once there was only a few people left waiting he stepped up to the counter to wait for Flip to finish up with them.

A couple minutes later Flip took care of the last person in line, stashing away his latest profit into the register. He shut the drawer and put up a 'Back in 5 minutes' sign onto the counter.

"Okay kid, let's make this quick. I got the paperwork out back." Flip said, walking past the counter and towards his employee only area in the back.

Lincoln followed, needing to sidestep around another customer who just entered the store. The newcomer, a middle aged man with a portly stature, took notice of the sign on the counter and frowned a little. Then he saw Flip heading out back and raised his hand to try and get his attention.

"Excuse me." he said.

"You're gonna have to wait a bit there, Chief." Flip flatly replied. "I'm on a break."

Flip kept going into his back area, ignoring the customer he had left waiting. Lincoln followed, feeling a little bad for the man at the counter, but just told himself that this would be nice and quick. Well...it would be quick anyways. Knowing Flip, odds were that he'd need to make use of his negotiating skills again.

The two went up to Flip's desk where a solitary piece of paper sat along with a pen. Flip sat in his chair and pushed the pen and paper towards Lincoln. The boy began to read through the document carefully. Something that Flip found to be annoying.

"The heck are ya doing? Just sign it already!" Flip said.

"Not until I read what it says." Lincoln replied. "My sister Lisa taught me how to look for little things in the fine print that I may not like. Like _this_ for example. What's with the hourly fee, Flip?"

"What? It's fair!"

"Not when you already have me paying enough in the first place." Lincoln countered. "Sorry, but this is a little too rich for my blood. Maybe another time. It's a shame though..." He said, a canny grin coming to his lips. "I really thought this would be a good deal for us both. You do something to help me out and then you get a nice little boost for your business."

Flip scowled and grabbed the paper. "Okay, okay!" He griped, using the pen to scribble over part of the paper. "There, I got rid of the stupid fee! But you had better be right when you said this would be worth my investment!"

"It will, don't worry." Lincoln said, taking the pen and paper back. He reviewed it a second time and signed his name at the bottom, finding it to be satisfactory. "Thanks for your help. I'll see you on Saturday."

"Yeah, whatever. Just don't think I'm giving a refund if you cancel on me last minute." Flip grumbled, taking the paper and tucking it into a folder for safe keeping.

Lincoln left the convenience store and made his way back home. As he walked back onto Franklin Avenue, he checked his watch and tried to think over his sister's schedules. Many of them would be home at the moment, which would make things a little complicated. But he already had a good alibi if any of them happened to think he was up to something.

Lincoln walked with a bit more spring in his step, trying to get home quickly. His quick walk became a brisk jogging pace until he reached his house. He stopped for a moment, hunched over with his palms on his knees, breathing heavily.

"I really gotta get into better shape." Lincoln thought.

Lincoln looked up at the slightly beat up house that he called home. He rubbed his chin in thought as he looked at the building. He made his way around the side, and looked up at his window. He put his thumbs and forefingers together in a square shape and looked through them.

"Let's see." he thought. "With that slide still built into my room, I might be able to fit a..."

"Hey Lincoln!" called out a rough, raspy voice. "Can you come here for a second?"

Lincoln stepped back and looked over at Lana laying on her back in a large mud puddle. She motioned for him to come closer, which he did with his hands stuffed in his pockets. Lincoln's eyes widened a bit as he looked over the size of the puddle.

"Whoa." he said. "This puddle is way bigger than any I've seen you make before."

"It's actually a mud pit." Lana corrected him. "Not a puddle."

"What's the difference?" Lincoln asked.

"A mud puddle is a small pool of mud." Lana said. "Something you can step in or slip on. A mudpit is a big hole filled with mud. Something you can swim in."

Lana demonstrated the difference by doing a quick backstroke in the pit. She took a deep breath and dove down under the mud, only to pop up a few seconds later. Just as she surfaced, a series of large bubbles burst behind her in the mud. Lincoln snorted with laughter, which Lana quickly joined in.

"Cafeteria burritos." Lana said, fanning her mud-covered behind with her hand. "The lunch lady scored me one with triple beans."

"I can tell." Lincoln said as he wiped a mirth induced tear from his eye. "So what can I help you with?"

"My mud is starting to dry out." she said. "Can you get the hose and water it for me?"

"Sure." Lincoln said. "No problem."

He walked over to the hose, turned it on, and sprayed a fountain of water into the air where it landed neatly in the mudpit. Lana swam around in the mud happily, rolling around, scooping it up in her arms, and tossing it in the air, letting it rain back down on her. Lincoln laughed a bit.

"Rolling around in the mud like that." he said. "You like like a piglet in overalls!"

"Aww, thank you!." Lana said, blushing a little.

Lincoln rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hey Lana." he said. "Are you gonna fill in that mudpit anytime soon?"

"In a few days." Lana said. "It took me way too long to dig this baby out. So I'm gonna enjoy it for a while. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious." Lincoln said as he made his way over to the the front of the house. "See you inside."

Lincoln walked up the steps to his house, and opened the door to hear a fit of obnoxious sounding sneezes. Lincoln looked to see Luan sitting on the couch next to a chubby girl dressed like a clown. Both of them had watery eyes, and were sneezing like crazy.

"Hi...Lincoln" Giggles said in between snorks and sniffles.

"Are you guys OK?" Lincoln said.

"We're just fine." Luan said as she dabbed her streaming nose and eyes on a gaudily colored handkerchief. "Giggles just brought me a few cans of sneezing powder. She wanted me to test it out with her and...and..." She sneezed again. "And it works really well!"

Luan handed the handkerchief to Giggles who loudly blew her nose into it. Lincoln cocked an eyebrow as he heard what was unmistakably the sound of a bike horn as she cleared her sinuses into the cloth.

"How can you do that through your clown nose?" Lincoln asked.

Giggles wrung out the cloth before blowing her nose a second time, the bike horn sounding again. "It just takes practice." she said.

Lincoln was no less confused, but decided to let it go. There were more pressing matters which needed to be attended to. The question was how to go about it without raising any suspicion from Luan.

"Anyway, I'm glad you're here, Lincoln." Giggles said. "I need to ask you a few things."

"You do?" Lincoln asked. "About what?"

"About Zach. I want to surprise him for his birthday."

"But...his birthday isn't for a few months." Lincoln said.

"I know, but I want to have a head start with planning his party. The more I know now, the better I'll be prepared when it's almost time."

"Thatagirl!" Luan said, giving her friend a pat on the back. "There's no such thing as planning to early! Not with birthdays or with pranks!"

"Too true!" Giggles agreed, giving Luan a high-five. "I'll see you later, Luan. I'm gonna walk and talk with Lincoln. You don't mind, do you Lincoln?"

"Not at all." He said. "So, what do you need to know?"

"Let's start with the cake." Giggles said as she and Lincoln started to head for the front door. "Any suggestions for decorations?"

"Well...Zach is really into aliens. Maybe something like that?" Lincoln suggested.

"Ooh, that's a good idea. Maybe that can be the theme for the party!"

The two left the house, Lincoln closing the door behind them. The moment they were out of earshot of Luan, and Lincoln's other sisters as well, he discreetly whispered to Giggles.

"Good idea bringing up Zach's birthday for us to talk about. I was worried that we wouldn't be able to talk without Luan nearby."

"Thanks. But I'm actually serious about throwing him a party. But we can talk later. Zach gave me your screenname so we can chat online. As for Saturday, I was able to get you what you asked for."

Lincoln smiled. "That's great! We can discuss that later on. I should be on around 7 o'clock, just after dinnertime here. That a good time for you?"

Giggles nodded. "Works for me! I'll see you later!"

She left and Lincoln waved as she walked away before returning to the house. When he opened the door he noticed that all of his sisters were gathered in the living room, spread about and either sitting or standing. He would have paid it no mind if not for the fact that Lori walked over to him and stood directly in front of him. She scowled at him and crossed her arms, quickly making Lincoln realize she was displeased with him.

"Okay little brother. You have some explaining to do." she stated frankly.

Lori's attitude gave Lincoln the impression that she may very well be onto his secret plans. He should have been nervous, but fortunately he spent a good amount of time thinking ahead. As long as he played his cards right, he could talk his way out of this with little to no trouble.

"Hey, it wasn't me." he replied a touch defensively. "I didn't leave the seat up."

"Of course you didn't." Lisa said from her place on the couch. "You rarely ever lift the seat when necessary. Approximately 97.43 percent of the time as a matter of fact."

"Too much info, Lisa." Lori said, a mild look of disgust on her face. "But back to the subject at hand. We know you're up to something. Lucy told us she heard you talking to your friends while she was in the vents." She leaned forward a little, narrowing her eyes at him. "What are you really up to on Saturday?"

Lincoln narrowed his eyes at his goth sister. "Why were you spying on me?" he asked.

"I wasn't spying." Lucy said. "You know I like to write my poems in the vents, I just happened to overhear you that day."

"And besides, bro." Luna said. "After living with your for all your life, do you really think we can't tell when you're up to something? Heh, It's a Laugh."

"Sneaking around in our room for example." Luan said.

"Yeah!" Lola piped up. "And whatever it was you were trying to keep secret with your friends at lunch on Monday!"

"And that fact that you have vacated the premises on multiple occasions within the past ninety-six hours" Lisa said .

"Not to mention whatever you were up to the basement" Lori said "Do you really expect me to believe you're spending Saturday doing chores? How stupid do you think I am?"

"Do you really want me to answer that question?" Lincoln asked flatly.

Lori frowned so deeply you might've mistaken her mouth for Lucy's. "I'm gonna let that slide." she said through clenched teeth. "Now out with it! What are you doing this Saturday that you're trying to keep secret from us?"

Lincoln's face became a look as blank as a fridge door. "What's it to you?" Lincoln asked.

Lori's face began to turn red. "Lincoln." she said hotly. "I am literally not in the mood for your attitude so you had better..."

"No." Lincoln said cutting her off. "No no no no. I mean that literally. What's it to you? You all have plans this Saturday, plans that don't involve me. So... why do you care about what I'm doing?"

The red slowly receded from Lori's face as his words sank into her mind. "Uh.." she said "I...well...I...I mean we care because..." She turned to her sisters. "A little help here guys?"

The other nine Loud Sisters looked around at each other curiously. None of them saying a word until Lisa spoke up. "I believe we are at a loss here, Elder sister."

Lori turned back to Lincoln "That's what I thought." he said. "I'm just doing stuff that I want to do in my free time! And you guys come in here acting like I'm doing something wrong?! You're acting like you deserve to know what I doing even though didn't care before. You've got your plans and I've got mine. So maybe you should just let it go already!"

And with that, Lincoln pushed his way past his sisters and headed upstairs to his room. There was silence for a moment until the sound of someone's throat clearing caught the attention of the ten girls. They all turned to see their father standing in the dining room, his arms crossed and a look of disapproval on his face.

"Care to tell me what that was all about?" Lynn Sr. asked of his daughters.

Lori smiled sheepishly at her father. "Well...it's just that Lincoln has been acting a bit supsicious."

"Oh? And just what makes you think that?" The father replied. "Because he has been going out after school this week? What's so suspicious about that? Lots of kids go out to do things they like to do."

"Yeah, but he was keeping secrets at school too!" Lola said. "He and his friends were talking about something during lunch!"

"So? I used to talk to my friends during lunch when I went to school. Heck, I still do when I'm on break at work. It's just something people do. And if he's having a private conversation, then that's his business."

"Well I caught him snooping around in my and Luna's room earlier today!" Luan piped up.

"Okay, so he was in your room without your permission." Lynn admitted. "But to be fair, how often do any of you just let yourselves into each other's rooms?"

The girls went silent again. Lynn Sr. let out a 'hmmm' as he waited for them to answer, knowing they already knew the truth. After giving them plenty of time to say something, and getting nothing, Lynn Sr. nodded.

"There you go. Now, I'll admit that he shouldn't be just going into your rooms when you aren't in there. And I'll talk to him about it. But you need to let him just do his thing. Because if you keep getting on his case about it, your just going to end up in the same situation as now. He's just trying to do his own thing and he's going to get defensive about it if you gang up on him like this."

"But..." Lori began.

"No buts!" Lynn Sr. interrupted. "I'm going to talk to him about going into your rooms, but aside of that I haven't heard anything else that he's done wrong. Now please just drop the subject and go and do anything else until dinnertime. Alright?"

His daughters all nodded and slowly dispersed. Once they were all gone, Lynn looked up the stairs and saw his son sitting on the top step. Lincoln gave a thumbs up to which his father winked in return. And as Lynn walked off, Lincoln smiled to himself. Now his sisters were off his back again, just as he planned.

 **Please review**  
 **And dont forget to send some love to my co-writer Twisteddarkness225**


	5. Chapter 5

Part 5

"Come on, guys, I need to hear feet on the floor." Rita called from downstairs. "You too, Lincoln."

The sun rose over the horizon, light pouring through the windows of the Loud House. Which, coupled with their mothers voice, signaled the Loud sisters to scramble out of their rooms in a hurry to get to the bathroom. The girls fought each other like a pack of grizzly bears. Shoving, biting, and clawing at each other as they complained.

"Move it!" Luna said, pushing Lynn out of the way.

"I gotta go, NOW!" Lynn announced.

"So you can stink up the entire bathroom before we go in? Not happening!" Luna said.

"I'm going first! I'm the oldest!" Lori hissed, trying to grab Lola off of her back.

"No way, beauty before age!" Lola cried out while taking a firm grip on Lori's hair.

"Thanks Lola. I'll just go first then." Leni said, heading right for the door.

Lincoln peeked out the door of his room, looked at the cloud of dust which contained his sisters, and quietly laughed to himself.

"You'd think that by now they'd start showering before bed." Lincoln thought. "But I guess that's why I'm the man with the plan."

Lincoln, already washed up and fully dressed, sat back down at his computer. His friends were already logged into their chatroom.

SoloSon6: So Liam. Do you have your part ready?

CountryBoy11: Yup. Already cleared it with my Pa. Virginia is ready and raring to go.

SoloSon6: GREAT! What about you, Zach?

ZeroAngerCavalryHero:Giggles and I will be making the last delivery to your neighbors's house right after school

SoloSon6: PERFECT!

Rusty10Speed: This is gonna be good.

RedRunner: You're telling me. I've been looking forward to this all week. But are you sure you have everything you need?

SoloSon6: I got just about everything ready. We can hammer out the details when we get to school. I'll see you all then.

 _SoloSon6 has logged out_

Lincoln shut off his laptop, and stuffed it into his backpack "Can't leave this lying around so close to Saturday." he thought.

He stuck his arms through the straps and made his way downstairs, careful not the draw any attention from the bathroom line. He headed into the kitchen and started on his bowl of cereal. Rita looked over at her son.

"Someone's up early." she said.

"Gotta get to school quick." he said. "I've got...some things to take care of."

Rita raised an eyebrow and smirked at him. "Well okay then." she said. "I won't pry."

Lincoln smiled and left the house. Meanwhile, at the top of the stairs, some of his sisters had been keeping watch. Lola peered down from around the corner, a devious smirk coming to her face as she watched her big brother leave. She turned to face the rest of her sisters, some of whom were still tangled up in their fight to get into the bathroom first.

"Okay you guys, he's gone!" she said. "Let's go see what Lincoln has been hiding!"

"Wait...seriously?" Lori said. "Did you plan this?"

"Uh, yeah!" Lola replied. "Daddy already left and Mommy is busy making our lunches. So let's go already!"

"No." Lori said, crossing her arms. "I've been thinking about what Dad told us. I'm not snooping around in our brother's room just because he's been acting weird lately."

"Aw, is Lori scared of making Daddy mad at her?" Luna teased.

"That's literally a laugh, coming from the girl who shakes in her boots when she gets caught sneaking in after curfew."

Luna blushed and frowned at Lori. Luan and Lynn snickered at the older girls expense while Lori managed to squeeze past Leni as she left the bathroom. She started to close the door, then stopped and poked her head out again to give Lola a stern look.

"No funny business, got it?" She said.

Lola nodded and Lori shut the bathroom door. Once she was out of sight and the sound of the shower running met their ears, Lola turned to look at the rest of her sisters.

"Okay, I'm going to look around his room now. Who's with me?"

Lucy, Lynn and Luan all raised their hands.

"Dude, really?" Luna asked of her roommate.

"Hey, I'm just paying him back for going into our room uninvited." Luan said. "That and I want to set up a prank for him after he gets home from school."

"Well wait until after I'm done in there!" Lola said, pointing at Luan threateningly. "Now hurry up, we only have so much time!"

The three went to the other end of the hall, leaving the rest of their sisters to wait in line for the bathroom. Lola flung the door to Lincoln's room open and rushed in, starting by pulling open one of his drawers. The fact that it was his underwear drawer didn't stop her from flinging its contents all over the room while she began her search.

Meanwhile, Lucy started to check under Lincoln's bed while Lynn lifted the mattress up. Luan reached up to the shelf and started to look through his things there. After the first few minutes yielded nothing other than a mess, mostly thanks to Lola, the girls were starting to have second thoughts about their idea.

"I don't know, I'm not finding anything." Luan said, putting a sci-fi novel back where she had found it.

"Yeah, Luce and me found squat." Lynn added.

Lola growled. "Well if he doesn't have anything here, then he must've taken it with him!"

"What are you even looking for?" Lucy asked.

"I don't know." Lola answered. "But I'll know it when I see it!"

Lola turned to look over at Lincoln's mirror. She stood there for a few moments, admiring herself in the reflective surface, not noticing the small blinking red light from the wireless webcam attached to the side of it. The camera broadcast its feed to Lincoln's laptop, which he and Clyde watched from the backseat of the McBride's minivan.

"Wow Lincoln." Clyde said. "It's just like you said. They jumped at the chance to search your room while you were gone."

"Do I know my sisters or what?" Lincoln said. "I was lucky to keep it all under wraps for as long as I did. But I figured they'd catch on sooner or...oh look, Lola's going for the last drawer."

Lincoln and Clyde moved closer to the computer screen as Lola reached the top drawer and pulled it open. A burst of confetti and light purple dust flew from the dresser drawer and rained down on the four Loud Sisters. Lincoln and Clyde burst into laughter as the girls brushed away the bits of colored paper.

"A confetti bomb." Clyde said wiping away a mirth induced tear. "Classic."

"And that's only part one." Lincoln said. "Giggles brought Luan some new sneezing powder yesterday. And she gave me an extra can she brought."

They looked at the screen and saw Lynn, Luan, Lucy and Lola fall into fits of uncontrollable sneezing. Lincoln and Clyde laughed even harder as they stumbled over each other as they ran out of his room. Lori came out of the the bathroom in her robe, looking down at her sneezing younger sisters. She sighed in resignation.

"What did you do?" Lori asked.

"Nothing!" Lola said as the powder attacked her sinuses. "Lincoln set a...a...AAAIISHUSH...set a booby trap in his room…AAACHIEW!"

Lori smirked a bit.

"I suppose you...HA-SCHUMPH!" Lola said. "Think we HAP-CHOO! have this coming?"

"Maybe a little." Lori said.

"Confetti and sneezing powder." Luan said wiping her nose on the back on her hand "That's a good combination. I ...AAAAISHOOO! ...should try that myself."

"Sneezing powder?" Lucy repeated. "Oh, I just though that...UH-CHOO! I might be allergic to brightly colored paper."

Luan chuckled a bit. "He really got us good!" she said. "Our brother's pranking skills are nothing to sneeze at! HA HA HA HA-CHOOOOIE!"

Lori stepped back to avoid the spray from Luan's mouth and nose.

"That's literally disgusting" she said.

Back in the McBride's vehicle, Lincoln and Clyde had put away Lincoln's laptop in favor of his notebook. The two boys ran through Lincoln's 'To Do' list and smiled as they found almost all of it had been checked off. They exchanged a high-five and Lincoln put the notebook away again, feeling quite content with his progress.

"Now we just need to touch base with they guys to make sure they know what to do in case there are any last minute changes to the plans." Lincoln said.

"Good idea, I don't think Rusty is doing too well remembering our codes. I tried to review with him and he confused a Code-Fuschia with a Code-Burgundy."

Lincoln snorted. "Oh, wow. Those two aren't even that hard to mix-up! Maybe we should just make him a cheat sheet instead."

"I'm one step ahead of you." Clyde said, pulling out a chart with multiple squares of varying colors alongside text boxes. "This should be enough to keep him in the loop. I'll give it to him during homeroom."

The vehicle slowed to a stop outside of Royal Woods Elementary. Lincoln and Clyde got out and thanked Harold and Howard for the ride. Then they rushed inside to get to their lockers before beginning another long day of lessons.

-Lunchtime that same day-

Lincoln and his group of four friends sat at the lunch table, eating their meals while in the middle of a discussion of sorts. A few tables over, Lola glared at them while she poked at the mac n' cheese on her lunch tray. She was still fuming over the incident in her brother's bedroom from earlier, as well as the scolding her mother had given her for it as a result. Beside her, Lana nudged her gently with her elbow.

"Cut it out!" The dirty twin warned. "You're gonna get in more trouble if you try anything again!"

"No!" Lola stated defiantly. "Lincoln is definitely sneaking around to do something, and that little trap he set up is proof of it! I'm gonna figure out what his secret is and nothing is stopping me!"

Lola got up from her seat and started to sneak over to her brother's table. As she got closer, she could start to hear bits of their conversation. But she didn't get enough to make any sense of it before Clyde suddenly turned to face her. Lola quickly ducked down to hide, but Clyde pulled out on of his hands which had a pile of something pink and sparkly. He blew onto it, scattering the stuff into the air in Lola's direction, making the girl gasp with delight.

"GLITTER!" She joyously cried, chasing after the flying pink stream of sparkles.

"Wow." Zach said. "That really did work. I think she might have a problem."

Lincoln shrugged. "Maybe. But that's something for me to worry about later. Let's get back to finishing up with this. Did we forget anybody?"

Lincoln's friends peered over his shoulder as he flipped through his notebook. "I don't think so." Clyde said moving closer. "This should be everyone."

"I don't even recognize some of these names." Zach said. "Are you sure this is right?"

"Positive." Lincoln said. "This is everyone we need."

"That's a lotta people, Lincoln." Liam said . "What if the cops show up again like when all your sisters' were playing the friend card?"

"Under 65 people at least." Lincoln said. "And some of them will be outside, so I'm sure there won't be a problem."

Lincoln turned to Rusty. "Did you get what I needed out of art class?" he asked.

Rusty reached into his pocket and pulled out a small stack of construction paper cut into pieces about the size and shape of playing cards, bound with a rubber band "I've got them right here." he said handing them to Lincoln. "Took me all week to make."

Lincoln examined the pieces of paper, each one had three black squares drawn on them. Zach pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "It took you four days to cut construction paper?" he asked.

"It took me one day to cut the paper into exactly equal pieces." Rusty said. "It took three days to convince the teacher to let me use scissors again after...what happened in fourth grade."

The boys all looked uneasy as they looked around at each other, before looking over at Girl Jordan eating at another table. As if she could sense what they were talking about, she sat up and protectively grabbed her braid. Rusty cringed.

"I'm sorry." he mouthed quietly.

Girl Jordan went right back to eating. "Sometimes I'm surprised she still talks to you after that." Liam said.

"It was only the tip." Rusty said. "It grew back in like a month."

Lincoln shut his notebook and stuffed it back into his backpack "Back to business then" Lincoln said "My sisters are suspicious, but there's only one day left so we should be all good."

The bell that marked the end of lunch time rang a few minutes later. Lincoln made his way through the hall and walked up to his locker. He rummaged around inside it as a pair of shifty eyes peeked out from behind the door of the girls bathroom. Lola grinned wickedly.

"What have we here?" Lola thought. "Maybe you're keeping your secrets in your locker."

Lola waited for her brother to leave before she snuck over to the locker. She checked to make sure that the coast was clear and then started to spin the combination lock back and forth, opening it on the first try. It wasn't her first time intruding in her brother's locker, she had figured out the combination earlier that year for...other purposes. And it was a good thing too, she couldn't afford to waste any time fiddling with the dang thing.

"Now let's see what you've got in here, big brother." Lola whispered to herself, pulling the door open. "...well, hello!"

To Lola's complete surprise, she found something she would never have guessed she'd find in Lincoln's locker. A mirror, just large enough to fit inside of the small space, was hanging directly across from her. And it gave her nearly a full reflection of herself, a very welcome sight. She smiled and posed a bit, loving what she saw for every passing second.

Without even realizing it, Lola's goal was forgotten. She was too lost in self admiration to even think of anything else. A passing thought made her wish that she had brought some of her make up with her. Her rouge needed a bit of touching up. A fresh coat of lipstick would have been nice too. Ooh, or maybe she could...

"Hey kid!" called out a voice, startling Lola. "Classes started again. Have you got a hall pass?"

Lola slammed the locker shut and made a mad dash in the opposite direction of the voice. The hall monitor gave chase, but unfortunately for him, he was a boy. Lola ducked into the girl's bathroom and took out her phone. She sent a text and then patiently began to wait.

A couple of minutes later, Lola heard voices on the other side of the door as it slowly began to crack open. She dared to peek and saw Lana there, with her backpack slung over one shoulder. The hall monitor seemed to be stopping her from entering the bathroom for some reason.

"Hey! What's the big idea, buddy?" Lana asked of the monitor.

"You're going into the _girl's_ bathroom!" he replied.

"Yeah, I know. Because I _am_ a girl!"

The hall monitor's face went blank. He looked Lana up and down and then smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, I see. I'm so very sorry, Miss."

"Do I look like a 'Miss' to you?" Lana asked, crossing her arms.

"Well, I uh...um...as you were." The boy sputtered out, unsure of how to answer.

Lana rolled her eyes and stepped into the girl's bathroom. Once the door was completely closed, she approached Lola and opened her back pack, pulling out one of Lola's gowns and a kit of Lola's 'emergency beauty supplies'. Lola took the kit while Lana went into the nearest stall with the dress. A moment later, she emerged with it on and her normal overalls and t-shirt balled up in her hands. Lola took them and stuffed them into the backpack before opening up her kit and taking out a hairbrush and a moist towelette.

"Oh come on!" Lana groaned. "Do you really have to clean my face?"

"Yes I do." Lola replied. "Because you can't be me looking like _that_."

Lana pouted, but allowed her twin to wash the layer of dirt and grime that she had earned through hours of dumpster diving and wallowing in mud. Next came the brush. Lana did her best not to cry out as Lola fought against the countless tangles in her hair, each tug forcing Lana's eyes to water from the pain it brought. But that wasn't even the worst part. Once her hair was neat, Lola took out...make up. Lana closed her eyes tight and cringed a bit while she endured it all, which thankfully didn't take long.

"You owe me for this." She bitterly said once it was over.

"Uh-huh, whatever. Just hurry up and go so I can get out of here."

Lana quickly went over to the door and flung it open. She bolted out, immediately catching the attention of the hall monitor who chased her. Lola waited a minute before leaving herself and getting back to her classroom. On the way she gazed at her brother's locker again and frowned. That idea didn't pan out as she had hoped. It looked like she'd be going through with her plan B.

A short while later, once classes let out for the day, Lola was once again inside of the girl's bathroom. She had asked to be excused at the last minute, saying she desperately needed to tinkle. But she really just needed a private place to change. Like Lana had done earlier, Lola used one of the stalls to change out of her usual attire. She now sported a bright orange hoodie as well as a pair or blue jeans with tears at the knees, a gift from Luna for her last birthday. There was no way Lincoln would recognize her wearing this outfit, not unless he really got a good look at her. And that wasn't going to happen.

Lola walked down to the hallway where Lincoln's classroom was located. She kept the hoodie up and tilted her head down a little to hide her face. After a few minutes of waiting, she saw him leaving. He didn't stop by his locker, which bothered Lola a bit. She had hoped to get a second try at catching him with something while he was there. But it looked like she'd have to rely on him trying to go someplace after school instead if she wanted any answers.

As she followed her brother off of school grounds, she was pleased to find he wasn't heading in the direction of their house. A smug grin formed on her lips as she kept a fair distance behind him while he made his way down the street. At last she would get some results!

Lincoln first stop was not what Lola had expected. It was the hobby store where he bought his dorky model kits. Lame! Next he went to the library to check out some graphic novels. Boring! And then the went into a cafe to...hello...

Lola was once again distracted that day by the sight of tantalizing treats in the cafe's window display. Her mouth began watering as her eyes roamed over each and every tasty option in front of her. Forget whatever her brother was doing, she needed to get herself something yummy!

No. No, she had to remember what she was here for. Lincoln was definitely up to something and she was going to figure out what. Just because he went inside a place with all kinds of sweets was not an excuse for her to let herself get sidetracked. She shook her head a little and regained her focus. Follow her brother first, then double back for a snack later.

Lola stepped into the cafe and was greeted by the scent of fresh baked cookies. The temptation was stronger now, but she was able to resist it. Even though it wouldn't take long to wait in line for just one little morsel, she didn't want to chance losing sight of her brother.

Lola looked thourgh the crowds of chattering people to see Lincoln stepping into a line in front of the glass case filled with baked treats. Lola began to sweat as her stomach rumbled loudly. She lightly tapped her midsection with her tiny fist.

"Be quiet, tummy!" Lola said. "He'll hear you! This is more important than...uh...this is just as important as treats!"

Lola slowly made her way to the line and stood behind her brother. Lincoln casually hummed a tune as the line slowly moved. After a few minutes, Lincoln made it to the front of the line. A red-headed girl with a bored look on her face fiddled with her cellphone as he walked up to the counter.

"Welcome to..." Becky said flatly before looking at her customer. Then her tone and expression brightened. "Oh, hey Lincoln!"

"Hi Becky" Lincoln said "How's everything going?"

Becky groaned in exasperation. "I've got this big chemistry test coming up next week." she said. "And I stink at chemistry. So I'm gonna have to study all week just to get above a D. Which means no time at the mall or with my friends next week."

"Well, you know what Ace Savvy always says." Lincoln said. "Life's not about the cards you're dealt, but how you play them."

Becky chuckled a bit and tugged down at the collar of her shirt, revealing the red fabric of the Ace Savvy shirt she wore to school underneath it. "You don't need to tell me, I was into Ace way before you, kiddo. But even though I agree with that saying, I'm probably better of folding with the hand I've been dealt for now."

"I know a good tutor." Lincoln said. "He helped me get an A on a test. I could give you his number."

"I'd love that." Becky said, handing him a pen and pad to write on. "And while you're getting that for me, what can I get for you?"

Lincoln looked down at the glass case filled to the brim with all sorts of snacks. "Oh I dunno" he said. "Doughnuts, cake, ecalirs, creampuffs, cinnamon twists, cheesecake. cookies. Everything looks so good."

Lola stomach growled loudly as her mouth watered. She wiped the drool on her sleeve, silently thankful that she wasn't wearing her gown right now. Lincoln scribbled down a name and phone number on the pad he was given and handed it back to Becky.

"Okay." he said. "I'll have six cookies, three chocolate chip, three oatmeal raisin, a glass of chocolate milk and, well...as long as I'm here..."

Lincoln turned back to Lola. "Hey Lola." he said. "Do you want a cupcake?"

"Yes!" she said happily.

Her face fell as Lincoln turned back to the counter as he paid for his snacks. She could hardly believe it. He knew that she was following him the whole time. Or he at least figured it out sometime before just now. Her plan was a bust, again.

A minute later, Becky handed Lincoln his snacks and milk. He thanked her, paid and put a nice tip in the jar at the counter. Then he turned and handed Lola her cupcake, a delicious chocolate one with whipped cream and a cherry on top.

"Here you go." he said. "And might I say, you look good in orange."

Red with embarassment, Lola took a bite of her snack before running out of the cafe. Lincoln smirked and glanced back at Becky. "She doesn't know I can smell her perfume from miles away." he said.

Becky shrugged. "Kids." she said. "What can you do?"

"While I'm here." Lincoln said. "Can I check on my order?"

Becky turned to the computer next to the cash register and typed on the keyboard for a few seconds "One hundred cupcakes. Half of them gold and the other half chocolate. " she read aloud. "Twenty chocolate iced, twenty vanilla iced, twenty strawberry iced, twenty caramel iced, and twenty butterscotch iced. To be delivered to your house...tomorrow."

Lincoln nodded. "That's right." he said.

"What do you need so many cupcakes for?" Becky asked.

"Oh you'll see." Lincoln said. "You'll see."

Lincoln took his snacks and sat down at a table. Then he pulled his notebook and his laptop out of his backpack. Flipping through the notebook, he started copying his notes onto his computer. After about ten minutes his cookies were gone, his glass was empty and he had finished copying everything down.

"And now to send this to Clyde." he thought, a strong feeling of accomplishment filling him.

A single click and the deed was done. Lincoln smiled widely and packed his laptop and notebook away again. He whistled happily and left the cafe, waving to Becky as he left. Everything was ready for tomorrow, all he had to do was wait for his sisters to leave and then all the planning would come to fruition. Just the thought of it was already so satisfying that he could barely contain his excitement. Hopefully that wouldn't keep him from getting a good night's sleep, he wouldn't want to be even the least bit tired come morning.

He made his way back home and went up to his room, kicking off his shoes. Then he climbed onto his bed and dug his math homework out of his backpack. Getting it, along with his other assignments, taken care of as soon as possible was top priority now that he had his week long project near completion. Fortunately he didn't have a lot to do and was able to handle all of it in a short amount of time. This however left him with some free time at his disposal and a slim chance at getting the remote downstairs before any of his sisters.

Lincoln put his school stuff away and went down to the living room. There he found that he wasn't going to be getting the remote like he had thought. Lucy already had it in her hands while she was perched in her favorite spot on the couch's arm. And as Lincoln guessed, she was watching an episode of Vampires of Melancholia that had just started.

"Sorry Lincoln." Lucy said, spotting him through her ebony bangs. "But there's a mini marathon on tonight and I already got permission from Mom and Dad to have the TV until it's over."

"That's okay." Lincoln replied, heading over to take a seat in the armchair adjacent to the couch. "There isn't a new episode of ARGGH! this week so I'm not missing anything. When is the marathon over though?"

"Nine. It's leading up to the season finale at eight and there's supposed to be a big plot twist. We're very interested in seeing what happens."

"We?" Lincoln asked. "We who?"

"Hi Linky!"

Lincoln jumped at the unexpected chipper voice that came from directly behind him. He turned to find Leni, wearing her 'Team Tristan' shirt and sporting a set of false fangs in her mouth. She had a cup in each hand, containing some sort of red liquid that Lincoln guessed was juice.

"Are you going to join us and watch some VOM?" Leni asked, handing Lucy her drink.

"Hmmm, pass." Lincoln said. "I'll just play my GameGuy for a while. I've been on getting 100% completion on ARGGH!: The Second Haunting."

Lincoln grabbed his handheld game from where he had left it by the television and took his seat again. While he powered it up and loaded his save file, Lori came into the living room with her own red drink in hand and dressed in the same shirt and fangs as Leni. She sat on the other side of Lucy and took notice of him, giving him a quick wave.

"Hey Lincoln. You got home just in time. Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes."

"Actually, I've been home for a while now. I was just upstairs doing my homework." He told her, eyes glued to his screen. "Just in case you were wondering."

"I wasn't." Lori said, cracking a smirk at him. "What you do is your business. I literally don't need to know what you're doing every second of the day, remember?"

Lincoln looked up from his game and smiled a little. A part of him was very happy to hear her say that. But there was also a part of him that felt just a bit guilty since he knew that he had been going around her back as well as the backs of all his other sisters throughout the entire week. Not that it would stop him after all the work he had done to prepare. They were sure going to be in for a surprise tomorrow and he could only guess at how they'd react when they finally saw it.

It wouldn't be much longer now. There were only hours left and then it would finally be time. And he could hardly wait for them to pass.

-The next morning-

It was a bright and cheery Saturday morning, and as usual, The Loud House was bustling with activity. Lori left the bathroom and pushed past her siblings to get back into her room.

"C'mon everyone!" Lori said. "Lets get a move on. The mall is waiting for us."

The Loud Sisters rushed to get ready for their trip to the mall. The girls fought over the bathroom, and struggled to get dressed quickly. But soon they were all ready to go.

"C'mon!" Luan said. "Lets get to it. ClownTown gets new whoopee cushions today and I wanna be the first to try them out!"

"And there's an open mic poetry slam at the Woeful Wayside." Lucy said. "I wanna get there in time."

"And I need to pick up my layaway clothes from the boutique." Leni said.

"C'mon everybody." Lori said. "Get into Vanzilla. I just need to check on Lincoln and we can get going."

The nine Loud sisters stormed downstairs to the ramshackle van as Lori made her way over to the door of the reconverted linen closet that Lincoln called his room. Lori opened the door.

"Lincoln." she said. "Are you awake?"

Lincoln was still in his pajamas, sitting on top of his bed, casually typing on his laptop. "Yup." he said. "What can I do for you?"

Lori fidgeted a bit. "I was just wondering if you had changed your mind." she said. "You can still come to the mall with us if you want. We'll wait if you wanna get dressed."

"No thanks." Lincoln said dismissive wave of his hand. "I've already got plans for today."

Lori's face fell a bit before she shrugged. "Suit yourself." she said. "Mom's off at an early book club meeting and Dad's spending the day with his friend Kotaro. Try not to make too big of a mess. See you when we get back."

Lori shut his door and made her way downstairs and out of the house. She got into Vanzilla and drove away with her sisters in tow, not noticing Lincoln peeking out of his window to watch them leave. Lincoln mouth split into an ear to ear grin as he quickly logged back onto his computer.

 _SoloSon6 has logged on_

SoloSon6:My sisters are gone. I repeat, My sisters are gone. Clyde, did you get the list I sent you?

RedRunner: Yup. I sent a mass text and e-mail out before dinner.

SoloSon6: So who answered?

RedRunner: See for yourself.

Clyde sent Lincoln a link to the list of people he had sent to Clyde earlier. Nearly every name on the list was highlighted, meaning almost everyone on the list had replied. Lincoln could feel the grin on his face getting wider.

 _SickSk8trRA has logged on_

SickSk8trRA: Hey Lame-O.

SoloSon6:Hey Ronnie Anne. Hows everything coming along?

SickSk8trRA:Great. We left home about an two hours ago. We should be there soon.

SoloSon6: PERFECT. Now guys, we need to start setting up.

ZeroAngerCavalryHero: I'm on my way over.

Rusty10Speed: I'm headed your way, and Rocky's coming with me.

CountryBoy11: Me and Virginia are on our way too. Hope you've got the mud ready.

 _CountryBoy11 has logged out_

 _Rusty10Speed has logged out_

 _ZeroAngerCavalryHero has logged out_

Lincoln took off his pajamas, revealing a set of his normal clothes underneath them. He turned off his laptop and stepped out of his room, reveling in the sound of the empty house, and said to himself.

"Let's get this party started."

 **Please review**  
 **And dont forget to send some love to my co-writer Twisteddarkness225**


	6. Chapter 6

Part 6

Lori drummed her fingers restlessly on the table at the food court. She checked her watch for the fourth time in the past ten minutes, her patience starting to grow thin. Her eyes drifted to Lily, who was sound asleep in her stroller. For a moment Lori wished she could take it nice and easy like that. But she just didn't get to have such a luxury. She was wondering just where all of her other little sisters were at the moment. They had all dashed off in their own directions when they first arrived. Lori didn't even have a chance to blink before all of them were out of sight, leaving just her, Leni and Lily at the entrance.

Taking a look at her watch again, Lori found the time nearing quarter of noon. She had specifically instructed her sisters to meet up with her at the food court by half past eleven. But she had yet to see so much as a trace of any of them. It would have been very frustrating if not for the fact that it was so darn worrisome. And it wasn't like any of them didn't understand the plan. She had sent them all a group text herself. Well okay, Leni had sent the text at Lori's request while she had to take Lily to the nearest restroom for a diaper change. But Leni did get confirmation and told Lori as much before she went off herself, desiring to have her nails done.

Again Lori peeked at her watch, not even a minute having passed since the last time she had checked. Unable to take it any longer, she decided to just try and call one of her sisters. She opened up her contacts list and selected Leni's number.

"Like, hey Lori!" The sweet chirp of Leni's voice sounded as she answered the call. "What's up?"

"Where are you?" Lori asked. "I'm waiting at the food court and haven't seen you or any of our little sisters! It's almost eleven forty-five!"

"Oh, did you want us to meet with you there earlier than half past eleven?" Leni asked.

"No. I wanted you to be here at _exactly_ half past eleven!" Lori sternly replied.

"Then what's the big deal? We all still have five minutes!"

"What are you talking abou..." Lori began before the answer dawned on her. "Leni, what time do you think half past eleven is?"

"Duh, it's eleven fifty! There are a hundred minutes in an hour, silly!"

Lori let out a heavy sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Leni, just please come to the food court. I'm at a table near the Pizza Shed."

"Kay."

Leni ended the call and Lori put her phone away. After a couple more minutes of waiting, Leni finally came into her line of sight. With her were Lisa, Lynn and the twins. Once they got to the table, Lori had Leni take over watching Lily so she could get into line for some much desired food. Taking Lisa and the twins with her, she got into line at a Wendell's restaurant where she could get kids meals for the younger girls and a salad for herself.

Lori idly skimmed over the screen of her cellphone as she waited in line. She expertly pressed the buttons and watched as the screen flickered from one site to another.

"Lets see what my friends are up to." she thought.

Opening up a link to Becky's page she saw her most recent post, made just a few minutes ago.

"Delivering 100 cupcakes to a party." Lori read. "#SweetStuff"

She looked down the list to see a few of her other friends had posted there as well. Joey and Chaz had posted replies right underneath it, further catching Lori's intrigue.

"On my way there now." Lori read from Joey's post. "This is gonna be sick!"

She moved on to Chaz' post. "The Chaz is bringing chips and homemade onion dip. Hope you're ready to chow down!"

Lori frowned. "So they all got invited to a party." she thought. "Lucky. I wonder who's throwing it...and why wasn't I invited?" Lori snorted with irritation. "It's probably Bianca or Sooyung. Those two just can't get over how much better Carol and my selfie's are..."

"Next." said a voice.

Lori looked up to see that she had reached the front of the line. She stuffed her phone back into her pocket and ordered.

"I'd like one salad." Lori said. "Three chicken sandwiches, one spicy chicken sandwich and five large sodas. Also I'd like four cheeseburger kids meals, two with no pickles and extra onions, two with no onions and extra pickles. All of them with juice please. And on the side, one extra large serving of chili fries, one medium serving of onion rings and..."

She looked up to see a small sign that read "Special today. Chicken nuggets, double helping for half price".

"And an order of chicken nuggets" she said.

After a few minutes of waiting, a tray filled with food was set down in front of Lori. Which she took and set down on the table as her other sisters arrived. They all grabbed thier food and dug in with the ferocity of starving animals. Lynn looked over at the platter of chicken nuggets.

"What's with the extra order?" Lynn asked. "No one wanted chicken nuggets."

"It's not an extra order." Lori said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "It's for..."

The words died on her lips when she looked around for her brother, only to find him missing. "Oh right." she said. "He's not here."

"What a shame." Lucy said reaching for a nugget and biting it in half. "I could actually use his help with my next poem."

"Ask around." Lori said. "All of us are here, so at least one of us should be able to help."

Lucy opened her notebook. "Well, this is what I have so far." she said. "It's inspired by last weekend."

 _"Orange shirt and stark white hair_

 _I look around, but see him nowhere_

 _The siren song of the comic book store_

 _Means he's not here anymore_

 _I am alone, no siblings around_

 _My tears gently hit the ground"_

There were heavy sighs all around from the other girls. A reaction that almost made Lucy smile. Almost.

"Like, that's kinda depressing." Leni said.

Lucy stood up and took a bow. "Thank you." she said. "Now I just need to finish it. Does anyone have anything they could add?"

Lucy looked around at her sisters, who continued eating. Lucy groaned. "And this is why I only ever ask for Lincoln's help."

"Well Lincoln's not here right now." Lori said, adding some more dressing to her salad.

"And whose fault is that?" Lucy asked. "Who's idea was it to hold our meeting without him last week?"

Lori's face fell a bit as she looked over at Luna who was smirking at her. "Yeah, yeah." she said. "I know, I heard the same thing from him."

"I guess I can't really blame him for ditching me." Lucy said. "Since he didn't even want to come to the mall."

Lucy's whole body stiffened as inspiration struck. She scribbled down another few lines as she said them to herself.

 _"But I cannot assign him blame_

 _Since every weekend is the same_

 _And the reason that he made his choice_

 _Was because his sisters ignored his voice"_

All of the other Loud sisters slowly stopped eating, save for Lily who was still snoozing soundly in her stroller. An awkward silence filled the space around them until Lynn reached out to snag an onion ring.

"Dude!" Luna said. "Who said you could take one of those?"

"They're for everyone, Luna!" Lynn said in her defense.

"No, the chili fries are for everyone. The onion rings aren't!" Luna countered.

"Enough you two." Lori said. "Both the chili fries and the onion rings are for the table. If you don't like sharing then you can get in line and buy your own."

Luna and Lynn dropped their little quarrel there and continued to eat their food. The rest of the sisters followed suit, many of them grateful for the change in subject. Lori was certainly feeling that way. Not only was she feeling bad for omitting Lincoln from their meeting, she was starting to miss having him around too.

The sisters finished their meals and went to start walking around the mall to look at the various stores for something that would interest them. Lisa and Lucy went to a nearby bookstore, dragging Lynn along to be their chaperone. Leni, Lori and Lola went off to look at shoes, leaving Lily and Lana in the care of Luan and Luna. The four of them went off to take the elevator down to the first floor of the mall.

"So, what do you want to do?" Luan asked of her sisters while she pushed Lily's stroller.

Luna shrugged. "I dunno. I kinda got everything I wanted when we were here last week. I'm mainly here because we all voted to spend the day here."

They continued to make their way past the various stores, none of them in particular catching their interest. But as they walked by a window display, Luna's head suddenly turned and her eyes widened a bit. She let out a suprised gasp and stepped up to the window, pressing her palms and face against it.

"Aw, sweet! Fifty percent off? Count me in!" she said, a wide smile spreading across her face.

Luan stopped and carefully pulled the stroller back a bit to look into the window with Luna. The store was full of musical instruments and music related paraphanelia. The item that had Luna's attention was a large brass instrument with a sign in front of it signifying it's heavily reduced price. And while Luna was more than happy with the find, Luan however wasn't entirely sure about it.

"The tuba?" she asked. "You already have one of those. The darn thing is taking up a lot of space in our closet, remember?"

"It's not a tuba, sis." Luna corrected. "It's a sousaphone. Don't have one of those yet."

"Yeah, well where are you planning on putting that thing?" Luan questioned, a less than amused look on her face. "There's hardly any room for it in the closet as it is and that's after I moved all of my costumes onto that plastic clothing rack."

"I can make room for it." Luna insisted.

"Not moving any of my stuff you won't! You're already taking up more than your share of our room with all of your musical equipment!"

"Well where else am I supposed to keep it?"

"How about the garage, the attic or the basement?" Luan suggested.

"The attic is already at max capacity, the basement is too. And putting them in garage is too much of a hassle for me to deal with."

"What are you talking about? You play in the garage all the time!" Luan pointed out. "Wouldn't that make it less of a hassle?"

Luna got ready to reply when suddenly she felt a small hand tugging on her skirt. She looked down to find Lana looking up at her.

"What's up little dudette?" Luna asked.

"Lily woke up." Lana answered. "And she really needs a diaper change."

Luan and Luna turned their attention to their youngest sister. Lily was fussing a bit, her diaper full and reeking strongly. Luna's face turned a little green as the odor reached her nostrils. There was no way she would dare to tackle that mess. Luckily for her, she wasn't alone with the baby girl. She could just have Luan...

"Not it!" Luan said, pressing the tip of her finger to her nose.

"Dang it!" Luna griped. "I wasn't ready!"

"That's the idea." Luan said, grinning smugly.

"Uh, Lans? Any chance you could do me a solid?" Luna asked hopefully.

"No can do, sis." Lana replied. "Not tall enough to reach the changing stations in the bathrooms."

Luna sighed and accepted her fate, giving Luan a dirty look as she took over pushing Lily's stroller. Meanwhile, in another part of the mall, inside of a bookstore, three of the other Loud sisters were busily enjoying themselves. Or rather, two of them were while the third was desperately trying not to die from boredom.

"Books." Lynn said glumly "Could there be anything more lame and boring than books?"

"Books." Lisa said. "Could there be anything more invigorating and exciting than books?"

"I know what you mean." Lucy said in her usual monotone. "I have a copy of the latest Vampires of Melancholia novel saved to buy today. I'm so excited I can barely keep myself together."

Lisa pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose as she looked over at the stoic look on her elder sisters face. "Yes." Lisa said. "I can tell that you're positively bursting with glee."

Lynn groaned in annoyance. "Just get your book so we can hurry up and get out of here." she said, plopping down on the ground.

Lisa pulled a book off a nearby shelf. "While Lucy and I seek out our literary acquisitions." she said. "Perhaps some reading material of this nature would benefit you."

Lynn looked at the cover of the book with disdain. "How to Wait, by ." she read. Lynn shrugged her shoulders before opening the book with a bored sounding. "Whatever".

Lisa ran through the aisles until she reached the science and math section. "Books upon shelves upon walls of literature!" she said happily spinning on her toes. "Newtonian physics, photomolecular theory, theoretical mathematics. I don't know where to start!"

Lisa reached for a book on a shelf, but it was just out of her reach. Annoyed, she began to quickly stack books into a makeshift staircase that let her reach her book. But the unstable tower of books toppled over just as her fingers met the binding of the book, sending her onto the ground flat on her back. Lisa stood up and dusted herself off.

"Perhaps I should start with a shelf with my reach." she thought.

After a while, Lisa and Lucy both met in the line with a stack of books. Lisa looked at her sister's stack. "I thought you were only here for one book." she said.

"I was." Lucy said. "But there was a perfectly good set of books from the Vampires of Melancholia series in the bargain bin. Not that I'm against getting a good deal, but I mean really...the bargain bin ? Can you believe it?"

Lisa's eyes narrowed a bit. "Well..." she began. "Vampire fiction isn't for everybody."

"And what about you?" Lucy said. "What're you doing with that kid's book?"

"Kids book?" Lisa repeated. "I'll have you know these are books are at a level that would be a far to difficult for..."

"Not those books." Lucy said, reaching for the top of her stack and pulling off a small thin, hardback book. On the cover was a picture of a smiling dandelion with fluffy seeds flying off it. All the seeds had a smiling face except for one who was frowning. "This one. Roy the Sad Single Seed. Isn't this a kid's book about a dandelion seed that doesn't want to leave his family?"

Lisa began to sweat as she put the book back on the stack "Oh, that. It's not for me...it's for Darcy. For...uh...for me to read to her the next time she comes over...uh yeah...thats it." She said, her mouth turned up into a wide, nervous smile.

"Riiiight." Lucy said as she turned back to the line. "Whatever you say, kiddo."

Meanwhile, Lynn stood off to the side, just as bored as before. She had dropped the book that Lisa had provided to her and instead gone to where the magazines were kept, looking to see if there was anything of interest to her there. But unfortunately all of the sports related magazines were still the same old ones she had seen before, some of which were in her room back home. Sure, she could have just looked through them again to help pass the time, but she wasn't _that_ bored. There had to be something, anything else that she could find to entertain herself while her younger sisters were waiting in line.

Lynn turned her gaze to the many people walking past the store through the entrance. Maybe if she was lucky she could spot one of her older sisters and have them take her place. Or at the very least give her someone to talk to until they could leave the book store. She'd even take a pun-loaded conversation with Luan over standing around and waiting like this!

A familiar face passed by the store, catching Lynn's attention. No wait, a few familiar faces now that she was looking. Margo and a couple of the other girls from her softball team were here. Lynn's legs were moving before she even knew it. As she exited the store, she called out to her friends and rushed to catch up with them.

Back in the line, Lucy and Lisa were nearly done waiting their turns. Only one person was standing in front of them now and had just a single book in hand to purchase. Not even a minute later that person had paid for the book and went to leave the store, the clerk at the register calling the next customer forward.

Lucy approached the clerk, an elderly woman who wore a lavender sweater and half-moon spectacles. She gazed appreciatively at the stack of books that Lucy set onto the counter and reached for the one on top to scan it.

"My, my, my..." The old woman said. "I see someone took a look through our bargain bin. You're going to be pretty busy this weekend with all of this reading."

"Yes Ma'am." Lucy replied. "I can hardly wait to get started."

"That's good to hear. I love knowing that there are children today who still like a good book. Now, I noticed that you got in line without a grown up with you. Are you with your mother or father today, dear?"

"Neither." Lucy answered. "My little sister and me came in with our older sister. She's standing right over there."

Lucy turned to point to where she had seen Lynn just a few minutes ago, but now the teen was gone. And after a quick look around she discovered that Lynn wasn't anywhere in the area, possibly not even in the store for that matter. She turned to Lisa, who was also looking around for their missing sibling.

"Where did Lynn go?" Lucy asked.

Lisa peeked at Lucy from around her stack of books. "Frankly, I haven't a clue. I cannot locate her anywhere within the boundaries of the store."

"Oh my, that's not good." the elderly woman observed. "I'm afraid that I'll need to let mall security know that you two are all by yourselves. Now don't worry and sit tight, we'll make sure that you're both taken care of."

Outside of the store, Lynn happily chatted with friends. It may not have been as fun as going to the batting cages, shooting hoops, or practicing lucha libre. But it still beat being in a boring old bookstore with her little sisters. Plus, she could talk about things she actually liked with her team.

"I still can't believe you missed those curve balls!" Lynn said. "I mean after two strikes, you'd think that you'd at least be able to hit the third one in a row."

"In my defense, Francisco's got a heck of an arm on him." Margo said.

A dreamy look crossed Lynn face. "Yeah." she said. "A strong grip, serious shoulder pumping...and the muscles... "

Lynn's gaze quickly fell on her friends, who were all staring at her. She quickly shook the fog from her head. "He's okay." she said. "Yeah...just...OK"

Margo pinched Lynn's cheek teasingl. "Aww!" she said. "Does somebody have a crush?"

"Knock it off!" Lynn said. "So anyways, you guys wanna hit the batting cages later today? I could teach you got to hit those curveballs."

"Nah" Margo said. "I got a party to go today."

"Dang it." Lynn said. "Maybe we can hang out later then."

"What do you mean?" Margo asked. "Aren't you going to be at the party?"

"What party?" Lynn asked. "I haven't heard about any party."

"Seriously?" Margo asked. "Thats' weird consdering that..."

"LYNN!" shouted an angry voice.

Lynn twitched nervously and turned to see her eldest sister storming over to her, with a look of anger burning in her eyes. Lynn nervously gulped down a sudden lump in her throat as Lori came to a stop in front of her.

"I was just in Always Mobile looking at the prices of the new phones." she said. "And then I get a text from Lisa asking me where I am. Care to guess why?"

Lynn could only shrug.

"I'll tell you why!" Lori snapped. "Because the next thing I know, a security guard came up to me. And he had Lucy and Lisa with him. He told me that they were left all alone in the bookstore! What is wrong with you? Ditching Lisa and Lucy like that, you should be ashamed!"

"I wasn't ditching them!" Lynn argued. "I just came over here to talk to my friends. I was just outside the..."

Lynn turned around to point out the bookstore, only to find it much further away than she realized. She hadn't been paying attention to her surrounding as she walked with her friends.

"Oh..." she said as a sheepish grin crossed her face. "Whoops..."

Lori grabbed Lynn by the arm. "First Lincoln, and now you." she complained. "I am not dealing with this today."

Keeping a firm grip on Lynn, Lori walked back over to where Lisa and Lucy were waiting. Lori apologized to and also thanked the security guard for his help. The guard left and then the group joined up with Leni and Lola just a short distance away. Lori took a seat once they found a nearby bench and took a deep breath to try and calm herself down. It helped, but she was still very displeased with Lynn for her mistake.

After another minute or so, Lori pulled out her phone and texted Luna to ask where she, Luan, Lily and Lana were. She got a response after a few seconds and then she stood up and got the group moving again. They took the nearest down escalator to the first floor and soon enough found Luna and the others. Luna seemed to be in a pretty sour mood and she trudged over once she spotted Lori's group. Luan, who was pushing Lily's stroller, joined them next with Lana by her side. Lori took immediate notice of the uneasyness between the two brunettes and turned to face Luna.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"Nothing." Luna muttered.

"She's just upset because she wasn't able to buy the tuba she wanted." Luan explained from her place on the other side of the group.

"Sousaphone." Luna bitterely corrected.

"Whatever." Luan said, rolling her eyes.

Lori let out a heavy sigh. "What exactly happened?" She asked, a part of her already regretting doing so.

"Lily needed a diaper change and I called 'not it'." Luan said. "But then Luna takes Lana into the bathroom with her and Lily so she can get Lana to do it for her."

"I did say that I'd do it if Luna held me up so I could reach the changing table." Lana added.

"Okay, so Lily got a diaper change." Lori said. "What's that got to do with Luna not being able to buy a tuba?"

"Sousaphone." Luna spat through clenched teeth.

"Watch it Luna!" Lori warned. "I am literally not in the mood right now. Luan, continue."

Luan nodded. "Okay, so anyway, after that we went to the store so Luna could buy her tu...instrument and then Lily threw her dirty diaper."

"Wait, wait, wait..." Lynn interupted. "You _kept_ the dirty diaper? Why?"

"I didn't!" Luna said. "Lana kept it!"

"Like, why did you let her do that?" Leni asked.

"I thought she'd toss it in the trash! How the heck was I supposed to know she'd hold onto it?!"

"Uh, hello? This is _Lana_ we're talking about!" Lola stated definitively."

"Lola has a fair point." Lana said, nodding in agreement with her twin.

Lori sighed again and pinched the bridge of her nose. "So I'm guessing that Lily hit someone with her diaper and you were told to leave the store, right?"

Luna nodded, crossing her arms and looking down at her feet.

"She hit the store manager. Got her right in the schnoz!" Luan said, giggling. "It was priceless!"

"Well you didn't have to say a pun and make things worse!" Luna said hotly. "Of all the things you could've done, you just had to go and do something to tick the woman off!"

"Don't blame me because she didn't have a sense of humor!" Luan retorted. "And excuse me for trying to get a laugh out of what was a darn funny situation!"

"Dude! You called her a 'brown-noser'!" Luna spat.

"That was the joke!" Luan spat back.

"ENOUGH!" Lori shouted, stepping between the two arguing teens. "I think it's about time we head home. And you two are sitting apart on the ride back!"

All the girls groaned as Lori led them out the double doors, into the parking lot, and up to Vanzilla. They filed into the old clunker and got themselves situated in their seats. As the van drove away from the mall, they all began chatting away to pass the time.

"I can't wait to get home so I can start on these books." Lucy said, her enthusiam hidden behind the monotone.

"You said it, sister." Lisa agreed happily.

Lucy's eyes narrowed behind her bangs. "I'm still surprised that you bought that little kids book, though." she said.

Lisa snorted. "I'll have you know, elder sister." she said. "Any book is a little kids book, if said little kid is capable of reading it."

"I got so many different kinds of nail polish at Glitter Glam!" Lola said. "I'm not sure which one I should try on first!"

"What kind of choice is it, anyway?" Lana asked, looking at the little bottles in Lola's bag. "All of them are just pink!"

"They aren't all just pink." Lola said in an affronted tone taking out the bottles to show to her "This one is magenta, salmon, grapefruit, watermelon, bubblegum, watermelon-bubblegum, flamingo..."

She stopped at one bottle and examined it closely. "Ok, this one is just pink." she said. "But the rest are..."

"Okay, okay!" Lana said, plugging her ears with her fingers. "I don't need to know any more!"

"Well its' nice that some of us got what we wanted." Luna complained.

"C'mon Luna." Luan said. "You can't expect me not to try and make the best of a bad situation with a joke. I wasn't _trying_ to get us kicked out of the store!"

"And I'm sure there's other place you can get your Suzyphone." Leni said. "Maybe even at a better price!"

"Sousaphone. " Luna grumbled quietly.

The rest of the ride was in relative peace for the most part. The girls still talking mostly about what they had done at the mall, until Luna brought up.

"What do you think Lincoln is up to right now?"

"Who cares?" Lynn said flippantly.

"Yeah." Lola piped up. "He had his own plans and we had ours. Let him do whatever he wants."

"So no one else is curious about what he's been up while we were gone?" Luna said.

The Loud Sisters were silent as they looked around at each other. After a few moments, Lori spoke up.

"It doesn't matter." she said. "Whatever he's up to is...his business."

Luna smirked a bit as she could hear the struggle behind Lori's words. As his older sisters, they felt it was their duty to pry into his business. But this time they had left him to his own devices.

"At least we'd know what he was doing if he had come to the mall with us." Luna said. "But I guess not everyone wants to go to the mall."

Lori's face fell a bit at Luna's words. "Whatever." she said as they neared their house. "I just can't wait to get home so I can talk to..."

Vanzilla stopped at the driveway of their house, unable to enter as a red pickup truck was in front of their garage.

"Hey!" Lynn said. "What's the big idea? Who parked in the driveway?"

"That's the pickup truck for the Casagrande Bodega." Lori said with a trembling voice. "And that means...

Lori looked over to see a familiar figure in a green jacket standing on the porch. Her chest inflated with joy. "Bobby's here!"

Lori parked by the curb and scrambled to get out of Vanzilla, as her sisters filed out of the ramshackle van easily. She ran up to the porch.

"Boo Boo Bear!" she called out she ran up to him.

Bobby turned to greet Lori with a big smile on his face. "BABE!" he cried out as he hugged her.

Grabbing their bags, the Loud Sisters walked up to their eldest sister and her boyfriend.

"What are you doing here?" Lori asked. "Did you come all the way from Great Lakes City just to see me?"

"Yup." he said. "Just to see you...and to deliver the food for the party."

Lori let go of Bobby so she could look him in the eye. "Party?" she said and her sisters said in unison. "What party?"

Bobby held out his phone to show her the digital invitation he had recieved. "The one Lincoln asked my grandma to make food for." he said. "C'mon, I'll show you."

He grabbed the knob and pulled the door open to reveal the inside of the house. There were streamers and balloons were everywhere. A table with chips, dip and countless cupcakes was set against one wall, with a cooler filled with ice and sodas next to it. Their TV had Lincoln's Dance Pads hooked up to it. And off to the side were three more TVs, each with a different gaming system hooked into it.

The girls looked around in wonder at the set up "Whoa!" they said in a united gasp of awe.

"Lincoln did all of this?" Lori managed to get out after finally absorbing the sight before her. "Is...is this what he was setting up for all week?"

"I had some help." Came the sound of Lincoln's voice.

The girls collectively turned to face the stairs where their brother was standing. He smiled at them and walked down to stand in front of them. Once in position he made a grand sweeping gesture to the living room.

"So, what do you think? Pretty sweet set up right?" He asked. "And this is just part of it. I've got karaoke in the dining room, some food for eating contests set up in the kitchen, and in the backyard...well, let me show you."

He walked towards the back door and led his sisters outside. Lana's mudpit was still in place, but now with a new addition that quickly caught the first grader's attention.

"Is that a pig in my mudpit?!" she excitedly exclaimed.

Lincoln nodded. "Yup. That's Virginia. Liam brought her over from the farm so people could mudwrestle with her. Or just watch if they prefer that. There's also going to be some fun games out here, like lawn darts. And if you look around the side of the house, you'll see I've set up a ball pit which you can slide into using the inflatable slide Lisa installed in my room."

"Hmmmm, impractical yet fun. Well done, elder brother!" Lisa praised.

"Thank you. Now, let me show you the basement. That's where I had the VIP area set up." Lincoln said, gesturing for the girls to follow him again.

The sisters eagerly followed their brother back into the house and into the basement. The whole area had been cleared out for a large table with a buffet. Said buffet was entirely made up of Rosa's delectable cooking. There was a Flippee machine next to the buffet with stacks of extra large cups for people to use. A DJ station was set up against one wall and a kiddie pool was placed near the wall across from it. Around the pool were color changing strobe lights set up to add to the atmosphere.

"So, what do you think?" Lincoln asked again. "Does your bro know how to put together a sweet party or what?"

For a moment the sisters just continued to stare at the amazing surprise they had come home to find. Then all at once they burst into lively cheers and sung praise of their brother's efforts. Lincoln basked in it for a moment before gesturning for them to simmer down so he could speak again.

"Glad you like what you see. So, do you think that this is gonna be a blast?"

"YES!" The sisters all cheered.

"More fun than you could possibly imagine?" He asked.

"YES!" They repeated, pumping their fists into the air.

"The kind of party that you'll talk about for weeks?"

"YES!"

"Are you ready to party?!" He exclaimed.

 _"YES!"_ They all shouted, practically bursting with excitement.

"Well that's too bad!" Lincoln said. "Because none of you are on the guest list!"

The girls all suddenly gawked at their brother, not sure they had heard him right.

"What?!" Lori asked.

"I said you aren't invited to my party." Lincoln repeated, completely calm with a dead serious tone. "None of you."

End of part 6

 **We finally got this part done**  
 **Please review, and don't forget to send some love over to my co-writer Twisteddarkness225**


	7. Chapter 7

Part 7

"No way." Chaz said, flipping through a comic book before passing it over to Becky. "I can't believe you guys won the 'Meet the Creator Contest'!"

"I know, right?" Clyde said. "Although we had to do a lot of last minute editing to get the story to where we needed it before sending it in."

"Look at that, you actually included your principal in the submission so he could meet Bill Buck too?" Becky said as she handed the comic to Joey. "That's so sweet of you!"

"Well Ace Savvy really meant a lot to him as a kid."Clyde went on. "And personally, I think having Wild Card Willy turn over a new leaf was a nice touch."

"Well, personally I think you guys would've won either way." Joey said as he read the comic "This writing is airtight, and the art is awesome. You guys have real talent."

"Thanks guys." Clyde said, blushing a little. "That really means a lot."

Joey handed the comic back to Clyde, who carefully placed it inside a mylar bag, and set it back inside the cardboard box where Lincoln kept his Ace Savvy comics. Clyde, Rusty, Liam, and Zach had been showing Lincoln's collection of Ace Savvy comics to Becky, Chaz and Joey. They were all huddled in Lincoln's small room, entertaining themselves while they waited for the party to begin.

"I'll tell you what I really like" Becky said, suppressing a snort of laughter. "The fact that you made characters based on Lincoln's sisters. I mean seriously, you guys nailed Lori and Leni as the High Card and The Eleven of Hearts!"

Clyde's eyes glazed over as a dreamy smile crossed his face. "I know." he said. "Wasn't she just perfect? The High Card could rescue me anytime."

Rusty reached over and snapped his fingers in front of Clyde's face. "Hello, Earth to Clyde" he said, continuing to snap his fingers at the other boy. "This is mission control. Snap out of it!"

Clyde shook the fog from his head and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

"It was a great comic." Liam said. "But maybe next time you guys can make characters based on us instead of Lincoln's sisters. I mean, how cool would that be?"

 _ **"WHAT?!"**_

The sound of ten angry voices filled the air, filled with such passion and force that they shook dust from the ceiling. The teens and fifth graders inside of Lincoln's room all jumped at the unexpected outburst. A wave of chattering filled the entire house afterwards, each voice sounding just as loud and upset as the other nine.

"Speaking of whom." Clyde said.

"Sounds like Lincoln just told them they aren't invited." Liam said.

"And it doesn't sound like they're taking it very well." Zach noted

This might get really ugly, really fast." Rusty added

The group of younger boys looked around at each other. Then their eyes narrowed and smug smiles broke out on the faces of the three redheads.

"Let's go watch!" Rusty said, getting up to his feet and rushing into the hall.

The group ran out of Lincoln's room, and over to the staircase. They could easily see the Louds, who had relocated to the living room where the sisters were berating their brother. The group of friends backed up a bit, but kept just close enough so they could hear what the Loud Siblings were arguing about. With the sisters all talking so heatedly at once, their words got mingled together and became ultimately indistinguishable from each other . That, combined with their angry expressions, made the scene highly intimidating for the young boys who were now peeking in. But Lincoln seemed relatively unfazed by the ordeal. He just stood there and calmly awaited them to finish with their outburst.

"All done?" he asked once the din had settled. "Because if you are, I'd like to you please leave now. You know where the door is, don't let it hit you on the way out."

"Excuse you?" Lori said, stepping forward with a powerful air of authority. "Just where do you get the nerve to tell us we have to leave our house? And what makes you think that we'll actually go?"

Lincoln shrugged. "I dunno. It's not like you care what I have to say or anything like that. The fact that you excluded me from our last meeting proved that."

"Oh come on, are you still sore about that?!" Lori fumed. "I literally cannot believe you, Lincoln Loud! Why don't you just grow a spine and stop being such a twer..."

Luna stepped forward suddenly and held her arm out in front of Lori, gaining the girl's attention and stopping her in the middle of her sentence. She looked to her younger sister questioningly for a moment and Luna glanced back at her, giving her a confident smile. Curious as to what the brunette had planned, Lori let her take the reigns.

"Okay bro, we get it. You're still cheesed off about being left out of a sibling meeting." Luna said, kneeling down and looking him in the eyes. "I honestly don't blame ya for it, cuz I'd probably feel the same way. What do you say we all just talk about it?"

"I'd like that." Lincoln said, smiling a little.

The sisters all started to perk up. Hearing their brother accepting Luna's offer quickly diminished the bad mood they had gotten into when he had told them to leave. Soon enough this would all be behind them and they could enjoy themselves at the party.

"But it can wait until later, after the guests have gone home." Lincoln continued, dashing his sisters hopes. "So if you'd be so kind as to show yourselves out, I still have some things to set up."

Luna frowned at him and stood upright, crossing her arms. "Seriously bro?"

"Alright, that's it!" Lynn said, pushing her way to the front of the group. "Listen up, Lincoln, any of us can kick your butt on any day of the week. But together, you know you don't stand a chance. So how about..."

"And I'm going to stop you right there." Lincoln interrupted. "I expected that at least one of you would bring that up and have something prepared for such an event. Just a moment."

Lincoln put two fingers into his mouth and whistled. Within the next few seconds, two burly forms came charging into the room. Hank and Hawk took a spot standing on either side of Lincoln, the sight of the two surprising the sisters completely.

"Ya call for us, boss?" Hank asked.

"Why yes I did." Lincoln said. "Hank. Hawk. You remember my sisters, right? Well they can't seem to remember how to find the door. Think you can help them with that?"

"No problem." Hawk said, stepping forward. "Right this way, ladies."

"Absolutely not!" Lori shouted, casting a fiery glare at Lincoln. "We are not going anywhere! We live here!"

"Yeah, but are you on the list?" Hawk asked.

"What list?" Leni asked.

"Duh, the guest list." Hank said, pulling out a tablet. "Hang on, let me check. What are your names again?"

"Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn Junior, Lucy, Lana, Lola, Lisa and Lily." Lincoln said, pointing to each respective sister as he listed their names.

Hank looked over the list carefully for a moment, and then shook his head. "Nope, none of them are here."

"Hang on, there's one of them." Hawk said, pointing to the screen. "No, wait. That says Liam."

"Well, there you have it. You aren't on the list, so you have to leave." Lincoln said, crossing his arms.

"Oh yeah?" Lola asked with a haughty tone. "And who's going to make us? These two goons? Heh, I don't think so."

"Lola's right. There's ten of us and only two of them." Lynn said, cracking her knuckles. "I'd love to see them try and kick us out."

Hank handed the tablet over to Lincoln and cracked his own knuckles, stepping closer to Lynn. "Whatever you say, Ponytail. Just don't cry when you get what you asked for."

Lynn growled and stood up on her toes to glare in Hank's eyes. Hank growled back, baring his crooked, yellow teeth. The other sisters stepped closer to Lynn, ready to provide her with back up and Hawk did the same for Hank. Lincoln stood back to enjoy the impending show, but then quickly stepped forward as something important crossed his mind.

"Make sure you two are gentle with Lily." he instructed his goons. "She's just a baby after all."

"No problem, boss." Hawk said. "And don't worry about us messing up the place. This will be quick and easy."

Lynn snorted. "Yeah, it will be. For us, that is. Let's get em!" she yelled, charging forward with the other sisters in step behind her.

Not even one minute later, the front door to the residence was flung open. Immediately afterwards, nine of the Loud sisters were sent flying in an arc over their front yard. They landed ungracefully in a heap, each of them groaning miserably from the unpleasant experience. And while they started to try and get back onto their feet, Hawk approached with Lily in hand, setting her down on the grass not too far from the others.

"Ooh-goo-gah-bah." Lily said as Hawk let her go, which translated from baby-talk means 'Thank you, smelly man.'

"Your welcome." Hawk replied, waving at her as he returned to the front porch.

Lily crawled over to her big sisters, many of them still not back on their feet just yet. Lori was inspecting a scrape she had gotten while Lola was fussing over a grass stain on her dress. Lynn, who was by far the most irritated, addressed her sisters with a combination of frustration and confusion.

"What the heck was that?! That shouldn't have happened!" She exclaimed. "We had them _outnumbered_!"

"I agree with Lynn." Lisa stated, sitting up after finding her glasses which had fallen off during their flight. "That was a highly improbable outcome. Not to mention one which defied the laws of physics."

"Well I say we pick ourselves up, go over and try again!" Lori said, picking Lily up. "That's our home and we are not about to let this go!"

She began to lead her sisters back to the front door, checking on them to make sure they were all alright. After a moment, she noticed that Lisa was hanging back and she turned to face her.

"Lisa, are you coming or not?"

"Hmmm? Oh! My apologies. I'm still trying to comprehend how those troglodytes successfully booted all nine of us out at the same time, achieving the same velocity, altitude and distance despite our differing body masses."

Lori rolled her eyes and stormed back up to the their house only to be met by Hawk who held out his hand to push her back off the porch, landing roughly on her backside. She glared up at him angrily, but he only smirked, revealing his missing tooth.

"Sorry blondie." he said. "You can't get in if you're not on the list."

Lori stood up and got so close to Hawk that he could smell what flavor her lip gloss was. "Listen you!" Lori said with the same authorative tone she used on her siblings. "This is our home and you have no right to keep us out!"

Hawk scoffed at her. "All I know if that kid is paying me to make sure that only the people on the list get into his party." he said. "I don't care if you live here or not, you aren't getting in until the party is over!"

Hawk grabbed Lori, spun her around, and delivered a forceful kick to her butt that sent her rolling over on the ground, back over to her siblings. They rushed over to help her up again, glaring hatefully up at Hawk, who grinned at them in return.

 _-HONK HONK!-_

An obnoxious honking noise rang out as a tiny car drove up to the house, catching the attention of the sisters. After it came to a stop, a chubby girl dressed as a clown stepped out of the car with a cardboard box in her arms, both of which looked too big to fit inside the car. She walked up to the house, looking up at Hawk with a cheerful smile on her face.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"I'm here for the party." Giggles said cheerfully.

Hawk took out a tablet and ran his finger across the screen. "Name?" he asked.

"Giggles." she said.

He skimmed over the list for a moment. "Yup." he said. "Right here on the VIP list." Hawk stepped aside and opened the door for her. "Enjoy."

"Thanks" Giggles said, handing him the box she was holding as she passed by. "And here's the glow bracelets for the other VIP's when they arrive."

Giggles entered the house as the Loud Sisters watched in envy and frustration. Luan looked a bit hurt and betrayed. Lori angrily ground her teeth as Hawk shut the door, the boy mocking her with a smug grin. She took a step forward and Hawk reached into the bushes in front of the house, pulling out a loaded water gun.

"You got ten seconds to get off the lawn." Hawk said. "If you ain't gone by then, I'm soaking you!"

"Can you even count that high?" Lola asked.

Hawk began pumping the gun. "Now you've only got five seconds." he said. "Four...three...two..."

Lori took a step back, but kept glaring at the brute all the while. The sound of another vehicle approaching came to her ears and she turned to see who it was. A purple minivan drove up to the Loud House and stopped near the driveway. The door opened and Ronnie Anne Santiago jumped out. Her cousins Carlota, CJ, Carl and Carlitos all followed suit, as well as their mothers Maria and Frida from the front seats.

"C'mon guys." Ronnie Anne said. "The party's just about to start."

Ronnie Anne sped up to the door, slowing down as she past the Loud sisters just long enough to quickly greet them on the way. Then she and her family approached Hawk on the front porch.

"Names?" Hawk said.

"Ronnie Anne Santiago." she said. "And Carlota, CJ, Carl, and Carlitos Casagrande"

Hawk looked down the list until he found their names. "All on the VIP list." he said pushing the box of glow bracelets over to them. "Pick a bracelet and head on in. Enjoy the party."

The kids grabbed their bracelets as their mothers watched them head inside. "Now you be good." Maria said. "Try not to cause too much trouble."

"And make sure you have fun!" Frida added.

Hawk looked up at the women. "What are your names?" he asked.

"Oh, never you mind about us." Maria said. "We're not staying for the party so..."

"I'm Frida Puga Casagrande." Frida interrupted. "And this is Maria Santiago."

Hawk looked at his tablet then looked back up. "You're both on the VIP list too" he said. pushing the box of glow bracelets towards them. "You can come in."

Maria looked surprised. "Lincoln invited us?" she asked with mild bewilderment. "That was sweet of him, but I dunno if we should..."

"C'mon Maria, let's go inside." Frida said. "This would be much more fun than taking a tour of the town. And Lincoln went to so much trouble to hold this party. It would be rude not to attend."

Maria looked at her daughter, niece and nephews, who all looked up at her in anticipation. Maria smiled, unable to resist.

"Oh, why not?" she said, reaching for a glow bracelet. "Let's party!"

The girls collectively gaped at the scene before them, Lori the most shocked out of them all. But the surprises only continued at they started to see more and more guests arriving. Guests whom the four older sisters recognized, mostly from their classes in high school. There were so many that Hank had to come out to help Hawk with them all.

"Dude...seriously?" Luna breathed out in awe. "How did Lincoln even get their contact info? I can't believe he invited all of these...SAM?!"

Luna's outburst caught the attention of the blond teen. Sam turned to face her and gave her a smile that would've normally made her heart flutter. But considering that Sam had been on the way to the front door, Luna could only feel her heart start to sink.

"Hey Lunes." Sam greeted, adjusting the strap of her guitar over her shoulder as she approached the front door. A moment later she was allowed inside and Luna started to get mad. Of all the things her bro could do, this one cut her deep. And she had some words to share with him about that. Some very strong words.

With her hands clenched tightly into fists, Luna began to storm towards the door, her eyes locked onto Hank as he admitted another couple people inside. Unfortunately, she was a little too focused on him and had forgotten about Hawk and his water gun. At least until she suddenly found him in front of her, aiming at her almost point blank.

"Okay girlie, I warned ya!" he said, unleashing a spray that doused Luna's upper body in a matter of seconds. "Now back away from the house!"

Luna cried out and stumbled back, using her arms to shield her from the attack. Once she had escaped the range of the spray, she took noticed of something strange about the liquid. It wasn't water, that was for sure. And now that she looked at it, there was something familiar about the color as well. She dared to take a taste of what was on her hand, her eyes widening a little at the discovery.

"Dude, did you really just shoot me with cola?!" She barked at Hawk before taking a second taste of the beverage on her hand. "And not even the good stuff! What, you too cheap to get name brand?"

"Nah, just wanted to get more of it for less." Hawk replied, pumping the gun again. "That way we got enough for all of ya. Right Hank?"

"Right." Hank said, pulling out his own soda filled water gun. "We wouldn't want to leave any of you out."

The two boys advanced on the ten girls with their weapons ready. The sisters all started to slowly back away and then turned and ran towards Vanzilla. Hank and Hawk pursued, but only until the girls opened the vehicles doors and started to scramble inside of it.

"Out of the way!" Lola demanded. "Ladies first!"

"Quit shoving me Lynn!" Luan said, trying to squeeze in past Leni.

"Luna, don't you dare get in the front while you're soaked like that!" Lori commanded. "You take the soggy seat!"

After a little more struggling and arguing, the girls all got into Vanzilla and closed the doors. They all glared out the windows at Hank and Hawk as the two returned to the front porch and resumed checking the guests names on the list. At some point, Lincoln stepped outside to check on things and noticed his sisters, giving them a quick wave.

"Why that little!" Lynn growled. "He is so in for it! I'm gonna give him the most atomic wedgie ever!"

"Lynn, while I understand your grievance with our brother, I must insist you refrain from such impulsive and irrational actions." Lisa advised. "Regardless of how much he may deserve such treatment, it would ultimately result in you receiving a punishment from our parental units. Furthermore, he is clearly just trying to agitate us by means of excluding us from his social gathering despite the fact that our friends are attending. We shouldn't give in to such a petty attempt, no matter how badly we wish to do so. I for one shall not even dignify this by looking at our residence."

Lisa turned to face the street, paying no further mind to the people who were walking towards the house. At least not until a familiar car arrived, slowing to a stop just in front of the house. Lisa watched, wide eyed, as her best friend Darcy exited the vehicle, with a little help from her mother who undid the strap to her car seat. The young girl waved back at her mother and then began to head for the house while still under her parents mindful watch. On the way, she spotted Lisa and waved to her.

"Hi Lisa! I'm here for your big brother's party!"

Lisa's eye twitched a little as she watched her friend continue to the house. "As I said, he's simply attempting to anger us...AND IT'S WORKING!"

The young genius crossed her arms and began pouting. None of her sisters said anything about this rare moment of childish behavior from the brilliant girl. Most of them were still seeing familiar faces walk by as guests continued to arrive. It seemed like their brother had managed to get practically everyone they knew to come to his party. And it was getting to them more and more with each passing minute.

A white bus slowly approached the Loud House, slowing to a stop behind the minivan the Santiagos and Casagrandes had arrived in. A burly, white haired man stepped off with a woman with a beehive hairdo following close behind. Stopping for just a moment to wave to his granddaughters, Albert walked up to the front door with Myrtle on his arm. Hawk checked his tablet, gave them both a glow bracelet, and stepped aside to let them into the house.

"Looks like Pop-Pop and Gran-Gran were invited." Leni said.

Lori gripped the steering wheel tightly as she trembled with anger. Her knuckles were starting to turn whiter than her teeth which she was grinding fiercely. She was taking deep breathes to try and control her temper, with little luck.

"Careful Lori." Lana warned, taking notice of her sister's behavior. "I've already had to reattach the steering wheel six times. I don't have enough bubblegum to put it back if you break it off again!"

Lola suddenly gasped loudly from her place in the second row of seats. She leaned closer to the window and squinted a bit at the latest arrival to the party.

"Is that..." she said "No!...He wouldn't...he didn't..."

A pretty young girl with long red hair wearing a pink dress walked up to the house, spoke to Hawk and Hank, and was given a glow bracelet. Lindsey Sweetwater turned back around to face Vanzilla, making direct eye contact with Lola. She winked at her with a mocking smile before going into the house. Lola's face turned redder than a tomato as she ground her teeth with almost as much force as Lori.

"Lincoln is _SO_ going to pay for this!" Lola spat through her teeth.

The other sisters began paying more attention to the continuing arrival of guests. A group of darkly dressed kids walked up to the house, led by Lucy's friend Haiku. Lucy's jaw dropped as she watched Haiku take a glow bracelet and lead the group inside the house.

"Lincoln invited the whole Young Mortician's Club?" Lucy said. "I can't believe it."

"Yeah." Luan piped up. "I'd think they wouldn't be caught _dead_ at a party like this!"

Luan laughed at her own joke, earning the usual groans from her siblings. Leni, who was sitting next to Luan, turned back to look out the window, taking notice of an unfamiliar face.

"Hey." she said. "Like, who's that sad looking girl?"

The Loud Sisters looked up to see a sour looking teenager walking, or rather stomping up to the house to speak to Hawk and Hank. The girls looked around at each other.

"Uh...does anyone know who she is?" Lynn asked. "I think I've seen her at school, but I don't know her.

"I do." Luan said. "Her name is Maggie."

"Is she a friend of yours?" Leni asked.

"No!" Luan said with irritation evident in her voice. "I don't even know her! Lincoln and I performed at her birthday party a few months ago. Seriously? He invited people he's only met once?!"

Hawk handed Maggie a glow bracelet, which she wrapped around her wrist before going inside. Lori frowned so deeply that her cheeks were practically in her lap.

"Who does he think he is?" Lori grumbled, leaning on the steering wheel. "Having a party without us? The nerve of him! What makes him think he can get away with this?"

"Buh" Leni said, her eyes going wide and her cheeks flushing pink. "Buh...Buh..."

"I mean sure" Lori went on. "When I my party I kept most of you guys out at first, but I didn't kick you out of the house!"

"Buh..." Leni repeated, joined now by Luna and Luan. "Buh...Buh..."

"This is ridiculous!" Lori said, not paying attention to her little sisters. "We should be able to go to his party whether he wants us to or not!" She looked over her shoulder at the other girls in the back. "Right girls? Girls?"

All of her sisters were staring out the windows, transfixed. They each had a reddish tint across their faces, some with drool gathering at the corners of their mouths. Lori cocked an eyebrow at the odd scene.

"What are you all looking at?"

"Buh..Buh..Buh." they answered, their gazes not shifting even a little bit.

Lori looked out the van window,giving into curiosity, and her jaw dropped. At their door was a young man who appeared to be in his twenties. He had gorgeous brown hair which was swept forward, wore a pink button-down shirt, white pants, and had blue sweater tied around his neck.

"Hugh!" Lori gasped, following it up with an excited squeal which the other sister quickly joined in.

Though their voices were muffled, Hugh turned to the source of the sound he heard to see the Loud Sisters sitting in Vanzilla nearby. The sight of their all too familiar faces, each with hungry eyes and creepy wide smiles made his blood run cold. He quickly took a bracelet and frantically ran inside.

As the dreamboat left their sight, the girls all snapped out of their daze. But now their desire to get into the party was all the more powerful. Many of them had begun to push for the door, getting caught up in each other's limbs as they made the attempt. However, before any of them could even grab the handle, they heard the sound of Vanzilla's engine roaring to life.

"Get your butts back in your seats and buckle up." Lori ordered, putting the van into reverse.

The other sisters had little choice but to obey as they felt Vanzilla moving. Luna got Lily situated into her car seat as quickly as possible while the twins got tangled as they tried to use the other's seatbelts. Lori started to slowly drive down the street, passing by many other cars parked on the side. Almost all of them ones she recognized as a friend's.

"Where are we going?" Lynn asked after they reached the end of the block.

"Just for a little ride." Lori answered.

The tone of Lori's voice was undeniably icy. So much so that some of the girls would swear that they felt the temperature drop inside of the van when Lori had spoken. None of them said anything else for the rest of the ride, which brought them to Flip's Food & Fuel. Lori took the nearest parking spot and then just as coldly instructed them all to get out so she could have a moment alone.

The nine younger sisters moved calmly and exited Vanzilla, standing together in an adjacent parking spot. Lori got out of the driver's seat and then relocated herself into the sweet spot in the back of Vanzilla. The moment she closed the door, Lori began to shriek angrily and thrash her arms and legs, venting a great deal of anger.

"Yeesh, she's _really_ in a bad mood." Luan noted, cradling Lily in her arms. "So, what should we do now?"

Luna shrugged. "No idea, dude. But I think I'm gonna hit the loo and try to clean up a bit. The soda is starting to dry and I'm feeling kinda sticky."

She headed for the public bathrooms located on the side of the gas station/convenience store. The remaining eight girls decided to just hang around and wait to see how long it would take until Lori calmed down. Or at least they tried to do so until Flip stepped out and approached them.

"Hey, are you kids gonna come in and but something? Or are ya just gonna stand around out here?" he asked, crossing his arms and frowning at them. "Because I charge a 'Standing Around Fee'."

"Seriously dude?" Lynn asked, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "Okay, fine. I'll just pop inside and grab a Flippee."

"Uhhh, yeah. Sorry there sport, but no can do." Flip said. "I lent my Flippee machine to your brother for the day."

Lynn frowned and almost said something, but held her tongue. It didn't matter, there were plenty of other things to choose from inside the store. She would just settle for some nachos or something like that. The rest of the sisters, aside of Luna and Lori, followed her inside and began to browse around while Flip took his place behind the counter. After a minute or so, Lori entered the store as well, her mood mildly better than it had been while she was in Vanzilla.

Leni watched as her older sister went over to the shelves that held the many different types of snacks for sale. Lori snagged a package of mini chocolate frosted donuts and went to the counter to pay for them. That was a bad sign. Lori avoided that kind of junk food unless she was really, really upset. The problem was that talking to her would be a huge risk as it could very easily set her off again. But Leni wasn't able to help herself. She was much too concerned with how her big sister felt. If Lori ended up yelling at her, then so be it.

"Um, hey Lori." Leni said, cautiously stepping up beside her.

Lori gave a small grunt in reply.

"So...do you, like, want to talk about it?" Leni offered.

"Yes. I do." Lori answered, taking her purchase and heading out the door. "Meet me back inside of the van when you're done in here. All of you."

Lori left, heading out to sit down in the driver's seat again and chow down on her comfort food. Leni, who had not found anything she really wanted to buy, followed Lori back to the van and climbed into the passenger's seat. Eventually the others joined them as well, Luna being the last to arrive.

"Sorry for the wait, dudes." She said, sliding into her seat. "Took a little longer than I thought to wash that stuff out of my hair. But I'm good now. Except for my clothes."

"Don't worry about it, Luna." Lori said, putting the key into Vanzilla's ignition. "You can grab clean ones once we get back home."

"I guess." Luna said. "Just wish we didn't have to wait until Linc's party is over with."

Lori suddenly laughed, startling some of her sisters. She turned to face them, a devilish grin on her face and a determined look in her eyes.

"Oh, we aren't waiting for his party to end before we go back home. We're literally going there right now and this time, we aren't letting anyone stop us." She said, backing Vanzilla up and turning to get back onto the road. "We are crashing that party!"

 **Please review**

 **And don't forget to send some love over to my co-writer Twisteddarkness225**


	8. Chapter 8

Part 8)

The sound of the door slamming shut caught Lincoln's attention. He turned to look and saw Hugh slowly slumping to the floor with his back against the now closed front door. The handsome Brit was a bit pale, as though he had just looked into the eyes of the devil himself. Lincoln was tempted to go and check on him, but Hugh quickly regained his composure and went about making his way towards the table with all of the tasty snacks. He paused to wave and greet Lincoln along the way, ridding the boy's mind of any concern. Although it did make room for curiosity.

There was no doubt that his sister's were responsible for Hugh's short lived panic. And recalling how they acted the last time they had all seen him...he had to go and see what was happening outside. Hopefully they weren't causing too much trouble.

Stepping over to the living room window, Lincoln looked outside. To his surprise he not only discovered that his sisters weren't attempting to rampage their way into the house, they weren't even in his sight at the moment. Neither was Vanzilla for that matter.

"Huh, looks like they took off." Lincoln thought. "I was not expecting that. But hey, at least now I don't have to worry about them for a while."

Lincoln smiled. Things were turning out pretty darn good right now. He had thought for sure that his sisters would make a huge scene and disrupt his party at the start. But now, he could go and enjoy himself. He could mingle with his guests, have some fun, eat some of the food he paid for and all without having to worry about any interruptions from any uninvited guests.

"Hey guys." Lincoln said to Clyde and Rusty, who were currently playing on Lincoln's dance pads. "Mind if I play with one of you next?"

Rusty nodded. "Yeah, you can take over for me if you want. I'm doing terrible."

Lincoln didn't object and happily hopped into Rusty's place once the red head stepped aside. For a minute, Rusty watched his friend begin dancing in his place. But when he saw just how easy Lincoln made it look, Rusty opted to find something else to do. The party was already getting off to a great start and plenty of people were enjoying themselves. There was a bit of a crowd gathered around the karaoke machine, and quite a few of them were lovely ladies. That would work for Rusty.

Rusty headed over to sign up for his turn and look for a song he could sing. Meanwhile, the microphone was currently in the hands of Chaz. The chubby teen was bobbing his head as the music began playing. Then the lyrics came onto the screen, a big smile coming to his face as he started to sing.

" _Your butt is wide, well mine is too_

 _Just watch your mouth or I'll sit on you_

 _The word is out, better treat me right_

 _'Cause I'm the king of cellulite_

 _Ham on, ham on, ham on whole wheat, all right_

 _My zippers bust, my buckles break_

 _I'm too much man for you to take_

 _The pavement cracks when I fall down_

 _I've got more chins than Chinatown_

 _Well, I've never used a phone booth_

 _And I've never seen my toes_

 _When I'm goin' to the movies_

 _I take up seven rows_

 _Because I'm fat, I'm fat, shamone!_

 _You know I'm fat, I'm fat, you know it_

 _You know I'm fat, I'm fat, come on you know_

 _Don't you call me pudgy, portly or stout_

 _Just now tell me once again who's fat"_

From their place in line, Becky and Joey watched their friend dance and sing along to the lyrics. The two found themselves smiling as the crowd of kids began to cheer, a few even singing along with Chaz as he continued.

"You gotta admit he really owns it." Joey said.

"Just wait until they hear our duet of White and Nerdy!" Becky said, eager with anticipation.

"Can't wait until I get my turn." Rusty said as he walked over. "I'm gonna blow them away!"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked a voice, startling all three of them.

They turned to see Rusty's little brother Rocky looking up at them. Rusty frowned at his brother for the mild scare, silently wishing he hadn't picked up the habit from a certain sister of a certain friend of his. But rather than scold him for said habit, Rusty was more focused on what his little brother had said.

"Of course I'm sure." he said. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Don't you remember what happened at last years family reunion?" Rocky asked. "We had karaoke there and when you got up to sing..."

Rusty frowned again. "So I had one too many sodas." he said. "Sue me. That's not gonna happen this time."

"Still though." Rocky said. "Maybe you should go to the bathroom before you get onstage?"

Rusty groaned. "Fine." he said walking towards the stairs. "I'll be right back."

Rusty stomped upstairs, avoiding a line outside of Lincoln's room and headed to the bathroom. He reached for the doorknob, only for the door to open before he could reach it. He took a step back, mentally kicking himself for nearly walking without knocking first. A good thing he hadn't done that too, as he noticed a surly looking girl was the one to walk out of the bathroom.

"All yours." Maggie muttered, just barely taking notice of the boy.

Rusty walked past her into the bathroom and Maggie made her way over to the stairs, stopping momentarily to look at the line. She walked over to the nearest person, a pudgy latino boy wearing a bow tie, and tapped him on the shoulder.

"What's this line for?" she asked. "It wasn't here a couple minutes ago."

CJ turned around to look at Maggie. "It's the line for the ball pit slide." he said cheerfully. "Are you here for the slide too?"

Maggie rolled her eyes. "Yeah" she said sarcastically, crossing her arms "And then I want to frolic in a meadow of flowers."

"I don't think Lincoln has one of those here." CJ said.

Maggie cocked an eyebrow at the sincerity in his voice before shrugging. "Whatever." she said. "I'm too big for slides. And besides, slides are for kids and people who are desperately looking for something to help them to ignore the fact that thier lives are hollow and..."

The sound of laughter suddenly interrupted Maggie in the middle of her sentence. Much to her irritation, she found it was CJ who was the one laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" Maggie asked .

In between his laughter, CJ spoke "You talk funny." he told her.

Maggie's eye twitched a bit. "Excuse me?" she said. "You think that _I_ talk funny?"

CJ nodded. "Uh-huh." he said with another laugh "You sound sleepy!"

Maggie frowned and looked away from CJ, her cheeks going slightly red. CJ noticed this, although his mistook the reason behind her action for something else.

"It's okay if you're afraid." he said. "I'll go with you."

Maggie turned back to face CJ, a look of anger in her eyes. "Afraid!?" she repeated "I'm not afraid of some stupid slide. I just don't..."

"Look." CJ said, interrupting her again as he moved closer to Lincoln's door. "We're next. C'mon, we can go down together."

Before she could react, CJ grabbed Maggie's hand and pulled her into Lincoln's room. She struggled to make him let go, but before she knew it, she was right behind him as he seated himself. Then she had just enough time to situate herself before they were both descending rapidly towards a kiddie pool full of colorful, plastic balls.

Maggie was unsure how to feel after that unexpected event. By all rights, she should have been furious with the boy for daring to just drag her along like that. But...she couldn't shake this odd feeling she was experiencing with as a result of his innocent impulsiveness. It was familiar, yet at the same time so very foreign to her that she couldn't quite place what it was.

"Woohoo!" CJ cheered, pumping his fists into the air. "That was really fun!"

Fun? Was that what it had been? Fun? Maggie hadn't really had fun like that since...she couldn't remember. Maybe, just maybe, that silly slide had been not so silly after all.

CJ got up and out of the kiddie pool. He held his hand out to her, gaining her attention.

"Come on." he said with a sweet smile. "I think there's something going on over there. It looks interesting!"

...or maybe there was something more to that strange feeling that Maggie was having than just a little fun. Maybe. She'd worry about it later. For now, she was just as curious as to what was going on in the back yard. From the looks of it a crowd had gathered and they were cheering for something. Maggie took CJ's hand and the two walked over to see whatever it was together.

It turned out that the thing that had so many onlookers was a big mudpit. And inside of the pit were three people. Well, two people and a large pig. One of the two people was a young boy with red hair who was wearing a striped referee shirt. The other was a high school student in a football uniform. Some of the people gathered around were other high schoolers, all of whom were cheering their classmate on.

"Alright y'all." Liam said, stepping between his family's pig and the challenger. "I want a good, clean match. Well, as clean as y'all can manage in mud that is. First one to squeal, loses!"

Liam put a whistle into his mouth and blew, signaling the start of the match. Virginia tackled the teen who had dared to take her on. Mud began to fly everywhere as the human and the pig tussled, the crowd cheering at the sight. Among the crowd was Ronnie Anne, just a short distance away from her cousin and his new friend. And the young Latina was practically bursting with excitement. She had been expecting lots of fun things at this party, but this had been one had caught her by surprise. The only thing that would be better than watching this would be getting to try wrestling that pig herself.

It was just too bad that wasn't going to happen. Her mother would never allow it. The thought of asking Lincoln to borrow a change of clothes so she could avoid getting her current outfit muddy crossed her mind. But there was still too much a risk that she would be caught. Not to mention that she didn't want to get Lincoln into trouble just because she asked for his help.

Then again, now that she was thinking about it...maybe he _could_ do something to help her out! He was pretty good at convincing people to do things, maybe he could help her talk her mother into letting her wrestle! It was worth a try. She'd just need to hurry up and find him before too many people signed up to try their luck with the pig.

Ronnie Anne hurried to the back door of the house, which was currently wide open as a courtesy to the guests. Once inside she was pleased to see Lincoln not too far away. He was standing by the basement door, a box of glow bracelets by his feet and a bunch of colorful pieces of paper stacked in his hands. He was currently talking with a girl who was about their age. A girl who had him blushing a bit as he spoke with her.

Now that...that was something that Ronnie wasn't too pleased to see.

"So to be fair, I decided that I could let anyone go into the VIP area if they wanted." Lincoln explained, barely avoiding stuttering while she spoke. "If you want a bracelet, it will be five dollars and you have unlimited access. Or you could just spend three and get one of these punch cards. You get three punches per card and then you would be done until you get another one or the bracelet."

"You're charging money for them?" The girl asked, quirking her eyebrow at Lincoln.

"Well, yeah. But for you, Paige..." Lincoln said, reaching down to snag a red bracelet. "You can have one on me. Just keep it between us, okay?"

"Aw, thanks!'' Paige said, taking the bracelet and putting it on. "That's so sweet of you!"

She went to head down to the VIP area, brushing past the boy as she went. Lincoln shivered at the light touch and then swooned a tiny bit, a goofy smile coming to his face.

"She thinks I'm sweet!" he whispered to himself.

Ronnie Anne scowled. She had managed to catch that last part and was feeling less pleased than before. Gone were her desires to talk to Lincoln about asking for his help with her mother. Instead she just began to make her way towards the living room, wanting to find a can of soda. Lincoln saw her and gave her a friendly wave, but she ignored him as she went on her way.

The sounds of the many televisions with the different games being played on them was a welcome distraction. Ronnie found the cooler with all the sodas and grabbed a grape flavored one. As she pulled the tab and heard the hiss of escaping carbon, she noticed someone stepping up beside her. It was her cousin, Carlota.

"Someone looks jealous." the older girl noted.

"I'm not jealous." Ronnie flatly replied.

"I saw what happened in there." Carlota said. "And it's okay. I don't blame you for how you feel. If it were me, I'd be upset that some other girl was making moves on my man too."

"He's not 'my man'." the younger girl grumbled under her breath, staring down at the can in her hands. "At least not right now. She just better treat him right."

A short while later, Lincoln made his way down the basement steps into the dark of the VIP room. Loud techno music filled the air, and the dim light from several glow bracelets were scattered around the room. Lincoln carefully navigated his way around the kids on the dance floor and made his way over to the turntables where the DJ was playing music.

With some help from the school staff, Lincoln was lucky enough to contact the DJ who had been at the school's Sadie Hawkins Dance. After a short conversation and a bit of negotiating, he had managed to get him to agree to DJ at his party. Lincoln handed him an envelope stuffed with dollar bills he had collected from selling glow bracelets and punch cards to the party guests.

"Here you go." Lincoln said over the blaring music. "I'm afraid that I'm a bit short right now. But once the party is over I'll have more money from the VIP entry fee to finish paying you the amount we agreed on."

The DJ looked through the envelope, counting the money before tucking the envelope into his jacket.

"This is fine." the DJ said. "Keep the rest for yourself."

"Really?" Lincoln asked. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." the DJ said pulling up a plate loaded with food from the buffet spread. "Trust me kid, this food is more than enough to cover what's missing."

He shoveled a few bites of food into his mouth before giving Lincoln a thumbs up. Lincoln returned the gesture before heading back to the dance floor. He pulled his gaming glasses out of his pocket and strapped them over his eyes. Turning them on, images of zombies flashed in front of his eyes and he smiled.

"Let's dance." he thought to himself.

Lincoln punched, kicked, and hip checked zombies as they came after him. He could see numbers flashing in front of his eyes as his score increased, but soon his score was second on his mind as the cheers began to ring out. Most of the kids had backed away from him, leaving him in the middle of the dance floor for them to watch him dance.

"Go Lincoln!" someone started to chant. "Go Lincoln!"

Lincoln peeked out from under his gaming glasses to see the other kids cheering him on. Smiling a bit wider, he pulled his glasses onto his forehead, rolled over onto his back and began breakdancing. The cheering got even louder.

"Go Lincoln!" everyone started to chant. "Go Lincoln!"

Lincoln began doing the worm to a chorus of even louder cheers. He looked up to see Carol Pingrey holding up her cell phone in his direction, recording him as he danced. Lincoln quickly stood up to wave his arms back and forth, and started to do the robot. As he danced, he started to think that he almost wished his sisters were there to see it. Almost.

Meanwhile, not too far away from the house, Vanzilla was parked on the side of a street that intersected with Franklin Avenue. The girls had been coming up with the best way to crash the party, keeping in mind that Lincoln had no doubt thought up something to keep them out in addition to his hired muscle. At some point during their planning, an interruption occurred that dragged Lori's attention from her sisters. Namely, her phone.

 _'Hey Lori.'_ the device sounded, signaling a social media update.

Lori's hand instinctively grabbed hold of her phone and brought it out into her line of sight. She stared at the screen for all of one second before scowling and letting out a soft growl. The update, posted by Carol, had included a video clip of none other than Lincoln. She showed the clip of their brother dancing in the center of a crowd of cheering party guests to the other Loud girls.

"Aw, look at how much fun he's having!" Leni chirped.

"Leni, we're mad at him, remember?" Lori reminded the second oldest Loud.

"Oh, right." Leni said, realization coming to her as she frowned and crossed her arms. "Like, he is gonna be in so much trouble for this. Right?"

Lori nodded. "That he is, little sister. Now, are there any other suggestions for how to get past Lincoln's 'security guards'?" She asked, making air quotes with her fingers.

"I still say we just bust the door down and charge inside!" Lynn said, cracking her knuckled. "And then we go and find our brother."

"Not happening." Lori said. "Breaking the front or back doors would just get us in trouble too. And right now the only one who should be in hot water is Lincoln. Anyone else have an idea?"

Luan's hand shot up. "I have an idea." she said. "The window in me and Luna's room doesn't lock anymore. So if one of us could get up there, they could open the window and get inside."

"Hmm, I like it but I doubt we could make it work. Lincoln had stuff in the back yard too. Anyone would be able to see us trying to get inside." Lori said.

"Dude, why not just have someone on the inside help us sneak in?" Luna suggested. "We all know people in there. So let's start asking them!"

"Now _that_ is a good idea!" Lori said, lifting up her phone again. "And I know just who to ask!"

Lori started to text, her thumbs swiftly tapping the screen with expert precision. She sent her message and patiently awaited the response. To her delight, she received it quickly enough. As was to be expected of her beloved boyfriend. But the words that came onto the screen were not what she had been hoping to see.

"He said he can't!" She blurted out, completely shocked. "And he also said that nobody else would do it either because of Lincoln's rule!"

"What rule?" Luan asked.

"The one where no one can let us into the party or they'll also have to leave!" Lori explained, still staring at her phone's screen. "I literally cannot believe this!"

"So I guess my idea is down the tube." Luna said.

"You know what? That's fine!" Lori said, hopping back into the driver's seat. "So our friends don't want to get kicked out of our brother's awesome party. Whatever! I'm thinking that maybe they aren't the ones we need to talk to about this. Get in. Now."

The sisters piled back into Vanzilla and Lori drove around the corner onto their street. She pulled over a few houses down from their address and put Vanzilla back into park. Then she got out and looked to the other nine girls, giving them a stern glare.

"All of you stay put. I'm going in there by myself." She said, a strong look of determination in her eyes.

"What are you going to do?" Leni asked.

"I'm going to go right up to the door and demand to talk to Lincoln." Lori said. "If I can reason with him, then we can just put this all behind us and enjoy ourselves at the party. But if he doesn't..." she slammed her fist into her open palm. "Then I'm literally going to make him regret pulling this selfish little stunt of his!"

"Go Lori!" Lynn cheered, followed by the rest of the girls.

With her siblings supporting her, Lori advanced towards the house. There were no more people arriving to be let in, so neither Hank or Hawk were in sight at the moment. But she made sure to keep her eyes peeled all the same. She got onto the front porch and she pounded her fist on the door. It opened a moment later, revealing Hank. But before the bully could do or say anything, Lori held up her hand.

"I'm not going to try and get into the party." She said calmly. "But I would like to ask my brother for his permission to do so. Please go and get him for me."

Hank thought for a moment and then shrugged. "Sure, hang on a sec."

Hank went back inside the house, leaving Lori on the porch for a few moments until he came back with Lincoln by his side. Lincoln frowned up at his eldest sister, a look that she returned with equal fervor.

"May I help you?" he asked flatly.

Lori took a deep breath in through her nose and exhaled through her mouth. "Look, Lincoln. I get why you're mad at us. And I'm sorry that you didn't get to do what you wanted last Saturday. But keeping us out of the house is completely unfair!"

Lincoln's eyes narrowed. "One." he said with a mildly icy tone. "You clearly don't get why I'm mad at you all. Two, you're only sorry because I'm doing this, not because you feel bad. And three, I'm just keeping you out of my party. You can come back in the house when the party is over."

Lori ground her teeth, trying to keep her temper in check before she spoke again. "Don't you think it's a little selfish to keep your sisters out of your party like this?" Lori asked. "I mean, having so much fun without letting your family join in?"

"Oh, I dunno." Lincoln said as he folded his arms over his chest. "You got to choose which sisters you wanted to come to your 'sophisticated party', and I got the same choice. The only difference is you chose four of them and I chose none. Did you think it was selfish to keep me, Lucy, Lana, Lola, Lisa and Lily out of your party?"

Lori nervously rubbed the back of her head. "Well..." she began. "Maybe it was a little selfish, but I let you all come in the end. Isn't that what matters? And besides, I made you stay upstairs, not out of the house like you're doing with us now!"

Lincoln frowned at her, clearly not convinced with her argument. He quirked an eyebrow at her, making Lori sigh in exasperation.

"Look." she said. "This isn't about me. It's about you. And what you're doing."

"That's right." Lincoln said. "This is my party, Lori. Mine. Which means, unlike our weekend plans, it's all about me and what I want. I spent all week setting it up, making everything perfect. And so far everything is going great without you guys, So...why should I let you in?"

Lori trembled in anger. "We've been over this, Lincoln." Lori said hotly. "We vote on what to do on the weekends. Keeping you out wasn't personal, and we all would've outvoted you anyway. Why can't you just let that go?!"

"We've been over this Lori." Lincoln said, almost mockingly. "I set up this party for me, and for the people I invited. Keeping you guys out wasn't personal...well, actually it was completely personal. But being my sisters isn't a free pass to coast on the things I do. You guys weren't invited. Why can't you let just that go?!

Lori glared at Lincoln, her mouth twisted into an angry grimace. Lincoln simply stared at his sister blankly until a voice sounded from behind her, diverting his attention.

"Excuse us."

Lincoln and Lori looked to see Lincoln's teacher, Ms Johnson and the head of the school, Principal Huggins walking up to them on the porch.

"I hope were not too late for the party" Principal Huggins said, giving Lincoln a small nod as he stepped onto the porch.

"Not at all." Lincoln said reaching for the doorknob and opening it for them. "Head right on in."

The two school staff members went inside the house, as Lori stared slack-jawed.

"You invited your teacher and school principal?" Lori asked.

Lincoln shrugged. "Well, they weren't busy."

Lori could feel her blood starting to boil. She took another deep, slow breath and calmed herself a bit. Then she looked at her brother again and spoke to him with a gentle tone.

"Okay...you've made your point. We were off doing our thing, so you decided to do something for yourself. And you don't want us to be a part of it, not any one of us. Fine. But could you at least let us inside so we can go upstairs? We'll just hang out in our rooms until all of your guests have gone home."

For a moment, Lincoln pondered over Lori's words. But then he just crossed his arms and shook his head.

"I'm going to say 'no' to that. Even if some of you stay in your rooms, you and I both know that not all of you will. Lynn and Lola would definitely try to sneak down to join the party. And if they pull it off, what's to stop any of our other sisters from trying the same?"

"They won't! I'll make sure they don't try anything! I swear! Just let us in, please!" Lori blurted out, starting to run very short on patience with her brother.

"Careful Lori, you're starting to seem desperate. Not a good look for you." Lincoln said flatly.

"Lincoln...watch it..." Lori growled in warning, her anger beginning to bubble up again.

"Yeesh, relax already." Lincoln said, rolling his eyes. "I can't believe how much you're letting this get to you. I thought you'd be more mature about this. Is it really that important for you to come inside?"

Lori only glared at him in reply.

"Fine." Lincoln said, opening the door a little more. "You can step inside."

"...really?" Lori asked incredulously, her anger instantly replaced with bewilderment. "This isn't a trick?"

Lincoln shook his head and gestured her forward. Lori beamed widely and eagerly entered the house. The sight of the party decorations and all of the guests filled her field of vision. A feeling of giddiness filled her and she was practically jumping for joy. She had done it! She was inside, at the party! There was so much to do that she didn't even know where to start! No...wait...she needed to get the rest of the Loud sisters. If Lincoln had been willing to let her inside, then...

"And your time is up." Lincoln said, snapping his fingers. "Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day."

Suddenly, Lori felt a pair of hands grab her. The next thing she knew, she was being lifted into the air and then thrown through it. She landed, almost face first, in the front yard. After the shock faded, she scrambled back up onto her feet and gawked at her brother and his cronie with wide eyes.

"But...you said I could go inside!"

"Yeah, I said you could step inside." Lincoln said. "And I let you do it. You took a step inside. I just never said you could stay. Bye now!"

The front door was shut again. Lori stared at it for a minute and then she slowly turned and walked back to Vanzilla. She sat in the driver's seat, put on her seat belt and then she put her hands on the steering wheel. After that she simply stared forward through the windshield. The other sisters waited for her to say something, but were left only with silence from the older girl.

"Uh, Lori? Are you okay?" Leni asked with concern.

"...no...not okay..." Lori deadpanned, her eyes still staring forward.

"So it went that bad, huh?" Lynn asked.

"...yeah...it did..."

"We saw you go in, what happened?" Luna asked.

"...what happened?" Lori repeated, her voice eerily calm. "What happened was our brother was messing with me. He said I could step inside. So I did. One step. And then I got thrown out not even a minute later."

Luan struggled to suppress a snort. "I see what he did there!" She blurted out, getting a dirty look from Luna. "I know, it's not funny."

"No...not funny...not at all." Lori droned.

"I must say that you are taking this suprisingly well." Lisa noted. "If anything, I would have presumed that you would be quite angry after that."

"Oh...I'm angry all right." Lori said, her hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "I'm angrier than I've ever been before. I don't even thing there's a word for how angry I am right now. I'm so angry that I can't even feel it. So none of you bother me for a while, okay? Because even the littlest thing might be enough to make me literally explode."

Leni, who was in the passenger's seat, slowly opened the door and got out. She then cautiously retreated a few steps back down the sidewalk and stood near Vanzilla's rear bumper, peering in through the windows. In one of the back rows, Lisa took out her phone and began to tap on the screen.

"Well then, since it seems rather concrete that our brother does not wish to allow us to attend his party, we should return to finding a way to infiltrate it and then commandeer the household." She said. "Fortunately, I can access the cameras that both Luan and I have set in place for our respective interests. Perhaps we can find a way through observing the party from within."

"Cameras?" Lucy repeated. "I thought mom and dad told you to take those down."

"And I did." Lisa said. "However our mother and father did not specify that I could not replace them afterwards. Therefore, I reconnected them all sometime later."

"Well come up to the front then." Luan said. "So we can all see."

Lisa moved around her siblings, accidentally stepping on laps, toes and fingers until she made it to the passengers seat. The Loud Sisters crowded around her as they all wanted to get a good view of the screen. After a few seconds, an image of the backyard appeared.

"So you have cameras outside, too?" Lucy asked.

"But of course." Lisa said. "In order to keep watch on the entire family at every possible moment there must be surveillance at every possible corner of our property. It's as simple as..."

"Hey!" Lana said suddenly, pointing at the screen. "There's my mudpit! Zoom in quick!"

Lisa zoomed in on the scene. Within the mudpit, another match was about to occur. The challenger to the porcine powerhouse this time was a young boy, no older than the twins. Many of the people watching were less than enthusiastic due to his age. One of them was practically frantic with tears.

"Carl! What are you doing down there?! It is far too dangerous for you! Get out of there!" Frida implored of her child.

"I'll be fine, Mom!" the boy arrogantly huffed, puffing out his chest. "I can handle this little cerdo. No problema."

" ¡Deja de tonterías este instante!" Frida shouted, handling a strong mix of anger and fear.

Carl paid his mother's demand no mind and faced his opponent. Virginia gazed at the boy, completely unimpressed. Her breakfast had been larger than this little one and would go down just as easily. Maybe even more easily. Pigs could smell fear just as well as anything else, and the close she got to him, the more he stank of it.

Virginia lunged, intentionally landing in the mud right in front of Carl. Mud splashed all over the boy's front, covering his face in a comical fashion. And as he wiped it from his eyes, Virginia let out a loud squeal not even an inch from his face. The sudden noise frightened the boy so badly that he was halfway out of the pit before he had time to realize it, and with Virginia hot on his tail.

The sisters watched, some holding back giggles, as Carl scampered over to his mother and up into his arms. Frida instantly took a hold of him, backing away from the still advancing pig. Virginia however, slowed to a stop just as she reached the edge of the pit. She gave Carl a smug, victorious look and then turned to leave. As she did so, she spat out a piece of cloth that she had in her teeth. It was the seat of Carl's pants.

"Oh no, not your new pants!" Frida gasped, checking to see how bad the damage was. To her dislike, she discovered that her son's Share Bears undies were clearly visible through the large hole in his pants. "Well, I think I can patch these up. Good thing I always have a sewing kit in the car. But these need to be washed first. There covered in mud! It is just mud, right sweetie?"

"MOM!" Carl cried out, blushing hotly at the blunt and embarrassing statement. "Everyone can hear you!"

Inside of Vanzilla, some of the sisters began to laugh at the boy's misfortune. But while Luan, Lynn and Lola giggled, Lana seemed completely upset. Her eyes began to well up with tears as she pouted in the first row of seats.

"It's not fair!" Lana said. "That's my mudpit! I should be wrestling that pig!" She lifted both legs and kicked the back of the seat in anger "How could Lincoln do this to me?!"

"Dude, chill!" Luna warned, her eyes going towards the driver's seat. "Lori is still pretty ticked. Let's not give her a reason to lose it, okay?"

"I can't help it!" Lana said. "I'm really mad at Lincoln for this!"

"We all are, Lana." Lynn said. "But throwing a fit in Vanzilla isn't gonna help. So just do what I'm doing and save that anger for when we get to kick Lincoln's scrawny butt. Right after we get into that party."

"Yeah, well we still gotta figure out a way to get in there first!" Luan pointed out. "It's pretty obvious that it's easier said than done! Those gorillas Lincoln has working for him aren't going to let us just walk on inside! Not unless it ends up like it did with Lori just now."

From her place in the front, Lori grumbled a bit. The sisters watched her for a moment, mildly fearful of the oldest among them. But once they saw that Lori was doing nothing, they all huddled together again to continue discussing their plans. Lola started to tap her chin a bit, seeming rather focused on something. She smiled after a moment and leaned forward to address the rest of the group.

"You know, Luan is right. They won't let us inside. But what if we looked like someone else?"

"Ooh, ooh! Does this mean what I think it means?" Lana asked, starting to get excited.

"Yup." Lola said, smirking at her twin. "Disguises. And I know just the place to get them. Someone tell Leni to get back in here and lets try to get Lori to snap out of it! The sooner we can get back, the sooner we can get back. And then, then we're going to kick Lincoln and his ugly, bully body guards out and make that party _ours_!"

A few minutes later, the old van was started again. As it drove past the Loud House, Hank took notice of it from the front porch where he was allowing in some more late arrivals. He grinned and turned to face Lincoln, who was accepting the latest payment for some VIP bracelets in the dining room nearby.

"Hey boss, looks like your sisters gave up. They just took off."

Lincoln joined him on the porch and saw that Vanzilla was indeed nowhere in sight. However he didn't seem as optimistic as Hank did about that fact. If anything, he began to feel suspicious.

"They left earlier and came back." he told the older boy. "So there's a good chance that they'll be back again. And knowing them, they aren't going to just give up so soon. They must have something planned to try and get into the party. We'll need to be ready for anything."

Hank nodded and Lincoln left him to his work. He then went over to the cooler and grabbed himself a grape soda. As he opened the can and took a sip, he made his way to find Hawk to let him know about what was going on. His sisters might be back in a few minutes for all he knew, not that it would matter. He knew he was more than ready for whatever they had in store for him. Heck, he was almost looking forward to it.

"Okay girls." Lincoln thought with a smirk. "Let's see what you've got."

 **Please review**

 **And don't forget to send some love over to my co-writer Twisteddarkness225**


	9. Chapter 9

Ronnie Anne and Lincoln sat in the center of a crowd of kids, all watching the duo play Muscle Fish on one of the extra television sets in the living room. They cheered and shouted at the kids as they played, Ronnie Anne dominating her opponent. She unleashed a devastating combo that ended the match with her victory and the roar got even louder, everyone cheering her name.

"Ha!" she said, pointing at Lincoln victoriously. "I still own you!"

Ronnie Anne began victory dancing in a circle around Lincoln as he crossed his arms in frustration. He didn't mind losing to Ronnie Anne, but he did mind the gloating sometimes.

"Fine," Lincoln said with a huff as he dropped his controller on the ground. "You beat me. You've got fast fingers, but let's see how fast your feet are."

Lincoln stepped over to the dance pads over by the middle screen. Ronnie Anne rolled her eyes, not interested in what he was proposing. She grabbed his controller from the floor and held it out to him.

"Come on, Lame-O." she said. "Let's keep playing Muscle Fish. Dance Battle is a dumb game."

"Yeah." Lincoln said. "It's dumb game. But only because you can't beat me at it, because you don't have any rhythm."

"OOOOOHHH!" said the surrounding crowd.

Ronnie Anne bristled. "I've got more rhythm in my ponytail than you have in your whole body!"

"Prove it then." Lincoln said, motioning to the other pad.

Ronnie Anne snorted. "I don't have to prove anything to you." she said. "I'm just as good as..."

"Uh...coward!" Lincoln interrupted.

Ronnie Anne's words caught in her throat. "Gutless." he said "Chicken."

She frowned at Lincoln who gave her a smug grin. "Cowardly, gutless chicken!"

Lincoln flapped his arms and clucked at Ronnie Anne, who's face began to turn pink. A few of the surrounding kids laughed at the clear embarassment on her face. Rusty looked from Ronnie Anne, to Lincoln, then back to Ronnie Anne.

"You're really just gonna take that from him?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ronnie Anne shoved Rusty out of the way, ignroing his complaining when he hit the floor. She stepped around him and took her place on the second dance pad. She turned to look at Lincoln, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Lets see you put your sneakers where your mouth is, Lame-O."

"No thanks. I'd rather use my sneakers to kick your butt at this game." Lincoln countered. "Best out of three wins. You can pick the songs."

Ronnie frowned at the boy and started to scroll through her options for music. After finding something she liked, and that she was confident she could challenge Lincoln with, she started their first round. And while the party guests around them watched, another pair of eyes was also watching via the camera set up in the living room.

"Target sighted." Lisa said, speaking into her phone to her sisters. She was seated inside of Vanzilla to monitor the party while the others put their plan into action. In addition, she was also tasked with keeping an eye on Lori. The eldest Loud sister was still sitting nearly motionless in the driver's seat, her gaze remaining locked on the empty space directly in front of her. Lisa took a moment to check on the older girl and then returned her attention to the screen of her phone. With a gentle tap the screen showed a new image, this time of the back yard.

"Locating potential threat in the back yard...confirmed." Lisa said. "I repeat, Hank is watching over the back yard presently. Proceed with caution Team B."

"This is Team B." Luan's voice came over the phone. "Read you _Loud_ and clear Lis."

"Please refrain from puns while you're in the field."

"But, like, we aren't in a field. We're hiding in Mr. Grouse's backyard." Leni said.

Lisa pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Just be ready to move on my signal. Once we have achieved our objective with Team A, I will let you know. Team A, are you ready to advance?"

"This is Team A." Came Lola's voice. "Ready whenever you are darling!"

"Very well then, proceed with Operation: Deceive the Dunderheads."

Lisa switched the view on her screen again, getting an overhead view of the front porch from above the doorway. She could just make out the top of Hawk's head from where he stood guard. After about half a minute two figures came into view, one slightly taller than the other. The slightly taller one was Lola, who was sitting on Lynn's shoulders. The two were disguised with a modest, but fashionable pink dress. If one looked closely, they would be able to see Lynn's cleats poking out beneath the hem. Beside her was Luna, who was dressed in a formal coat and pants with a bow tie. On the rocker's face was a false moustache and an expression that read 'I really wish I wasn't doing this.'

The pair approached the front door, Lola and Lynn wobbling as they got up the steps. Luna placed her hand on Lola's back to keep her from falling over and the two stepped up to Hawk. The boy looked at the two with suspicion, but said nothing about it. Instead he glanced down at the tablet in his hands.

"Name?" he asked.

"I am Chloe L'égoïste. Famous French supermodel." Lola said, using a poor French accent. "And this is my manservant, Butch. Say bonjour, Butch."

"Bonjour." Luna said, not even trying to disguise her voice.

"We are here for Monsieur Lincoln's party." Lola said. "I do hope is acceptable that we are fashionably late."

Hawk looked up at them again and shook his head. "Neither of ya are on the list. Can't let you in."

Lola let out a halfhearted titter. "There must be some mistake. I am a VIP. And Butch is my plus one."

"The boss isn't doing 'plus ones'." Hawk said. "You only get in if you're on the list. And the both of you aren't on the list."

"Well I am not going anywhere!" Lola stated defiantly, turning her nose up at Hawk. "I was invited by Lincoln himself just earlier this week and cleared my busy schedule to be here! So either allow me in or you can explain to him why I am not at his party!"

"Pfft, yeah okay. I'll be sure to do that. Now move it already, there might be other people coming and you're in the way."

Lola gasped and glared at Hawk. "How _DARE_ you! Do you even know who I am? I am beloved by all of Paris! The most famous and beautiful of all supermodels in Europe! I was crowned Miss Pretty Paris when I was just a little girl and have been a huge success ever since! I will not stand for this insult!"

The feisty little blonde continued her diatribe, keeping the attention of Hawk. Back inside of Vanzilla, Lisa smiled and paid close attention to the front door. If her hypothesis was correct, and it more often than not was, then any moment now Hank would be joining Hawk on the front porch to deal with the commotion. And the moment she saw the other burly bouncer, she'd have Team B infiltrate the house and apprehend their brother.

"Attention Team B. Prepare for infiltration." Lisa instructed the other sisters. "Lola is currently in the process of causing a disturbance. Lincoln is still in the living room, blissfully unaware of anything."

Lisa watched her screen and Hawk pulled out his phone, using the other hand to cover his ear while Lola went on and on. Soon enough the front door opened and Lisa got ready to give Team B permission to go on the move. But she quickly saw something wasn't right as it wasn't Hank who came out onto the porch, but Lincoln.

"Oh no, an unexpected variable!" Lisa muttered. "This is mission control to Team B, do NOT proceed. Remain in hiding, I repeat, remain in hiding!"

"What's going on?" Luan asked.

"Our brother has stepped out front and from what I can see, he isn't falling for the disguises!" Lisa answered. "We have to abort the mission!"

The sisters who were gathered in Mr. Grouse's backyard began a stealthy retreat to Vanzilla. Meanwhile, on the front porch, Lincoln was still looking at his disguised sisters. He seemed more interested in Lola's disguise than Luna's. To be specific, he was making a guess as to who was giving Lola a boost.

"Let's see, it's gotta be Lynn." he said, rubbing his chin. "She's the only one who could carry Lola on her shoulders for this long. Lola has been getting a bit pudgy lately."

Lola and Luna gasped. Luna looked from her brother, to Lola, then back. The look on her face was one of complete shock.

"Dude! Are you nuts?!" Luna said. "You know how she feels about people talking about her weight!"

"I know." Lincoln said. "I just don't care."

"Oh, you're gonna care when I'm done with you!" Lola hissed, leaping out of her disguise and towards her brother.

Hawk reached out and grabbed ahold of the back of Lola's gown while she was midair. She kicked, hissed and clawed at her brother like a cat that had been dropped in a tub of hot water. But no matter how hard she struggled and thrashed around in Hank's grip she could not free herself. Lincoln stepped closer and nudged Hawk lightly with his elbow.

"Can you use that water gun with one hand?" he asked.

"Sure, no problem." Hank answered.

"Then keep a tight hold on Lola with one hand and shoot with the other." Lincoln said.

Lynn pulled off the lower half of the disguise she shared with Lola, tossing it onto the lawn. She saw Hank as reached for his water gun and leered at him.

"What're you using the water gun for?" Lynn asked hotly as she cracked her knuckles. "Can't you fight without it?"

Hank smirked. "I think I already proved how well I can deal with you, pipsqueak."

Lynn's face went redder than a tomato. "Pipsqueak?" she repeated through clenched teeth. " _PIPSQUEAK!?_ "

Lynn charged at Hank, only to get blasted in the face with cola. She shouted in anger as the sweet liquid stung her eyes, cursing at Hawk as he lifted her by the collar of her shirt. He then delivered a hard kick to her rear end that sent her rolling onto the lawn. Rubbing her offended eyes with one hand, and clutching her bruised backside with the other, Lynn limped away. Stopping only for a moment to turn to her brother and shout...

"This isn't over!"

Lincoln smiled and waved as Lynn made her way back to the van. Then he turned back to face Luna, holding up one hand to let Hawk know to hold his fire. Luna stripped off her fake mustache and coat slowly, setting them down and cautiously facing her little brother.

"C'mon bro." Luna said. "Let us come in. You can't Party like a Rockstar without me at least."

"Sorry Luna." Lincoln said. "But this party is invite only. So only people on the list can get in."

"Well can't you just put us on the list?" Lola asked from her place in Hank's grip. "That wouldn't be so hard!"

Lincoln shook his head. "You guys know there's only so much room inside our house" he said. "So I can only have so many people over. There's just not enough room on the list for all ten of you...sort of how like there wasn't room for me at your last meeting."

Luna's face fell "Okay already, we get it!" she said "We get it! Keeping you out of the meeting was one of our Bad Decisions. But come on bro, inviting Sam...that really hurt."

"Everybody hurts." Lincoln said with a shrug. "Now could you do me a favor and come back when the party is over?"

Luna frowned, her face taking on an almost pleading look. "Lincoln..." she said. "If...if you could just..."

Lincoln nudged Hawk, who picked up his water gun and aimed it at Luna. "You can either leave dry or you can leave soaked!" he said. "Take your pick!"

Luna dropped her head, turned around and sadly walked away. Lincoln looked up at Lola who was glaring daggers at him from her spot in Hawk's grip.

"And now you." he said with a grin.

"You want me to get rid of her, boss?" Hawk asked.

"Not quite yet." Lincoln said. "I want to show her something first."

Lincoln stepped down to the front yard, Hawk in step behind him. They went around the back, Lola's eyes going to the ball pit as a joyous cry caught her attention. She watched with envy as Lisa's friend Darcy giggled at the bottom of the slide. But the blonde soon found something else to draw her attention as the other festivities in the back yard entered her view. Lincoln had set up a bunch of different games out back for everyone. Lola saw people playing horseshoes, tetherball, foursquare, lawn darts...

"Wait a minute..." Lola said. "What is that on the lawn?"

"You'll see." Lincoln said. "Let's just bring you in a little closer."

Hawk moved over to the group playing lawn darts. Lincoln had set up a series of different little squares on the lawn with some wood stakes and string. In the middle of each of the squares was a picture. A picture of Lola.

"Are you kidding me?!" The princess spat. "You're having people use my face as a target?!"

"Actually, that was Lindsay's idea." Lincoln said.

Lola grinded her teeth and watched as said girl stepped up for her turn. Lindsay gave her rival a passing glance before launching the lawn dart she had been carrying straight upwards. The dart went into a short arc and then came rocketing down where it landed on Lola's picture, right between the eyes.

"Hmm, bullseye." The red head chuckled.

"Nice shot!" Lincoln said, applauding the success.

Lola glared at the two, her face red with anger. Lincoln waited for a moment to see if she would say anything, but the fiesty pageant girl just trembled under from the rage that was burning inside of her. For a moment, Lincoln expected her to start foaming at the mouth. He figured it was about time to send her on her way. With a nod to Hawk, the bully carried Lola out front and gave her a kick in the tushie that sent her rolling across the lawn much like he had done to Lynn not so long ago.

"And stay out!"

Lola got onto her feet, a soft growl escaping her. She was fed up. The insults, the injury, the grass stains on her dress! Someone was going to pay for this, and she planned to start with that burly ape.

A feral scream sounded from Lola as she turned and charged towards Hawk. She lunged at him, much like she had attempted to do with Lincoln earlier. And just like her earlier attempt, this one ended in failure as well. Only this time instead of being grabbed, she was soaked with cola. As she landed on the ground, Hawk kept his water gun on her, continuing to douse her with the soda. She managed to get up again and started to run away, but not without giving the boys one last fiery glare.

"You are so going to pay for this! And for my dry cleaning too!"

Lola got back to the van, joining Lynn who wasn't allowed inside of the vehicle. She sat on the curb and pouted while the rest of the sisters were working on their next idea.

"Maybe one of us could try again, this time dressed as a pizza guy?" Lana suggested, putting on the fake moustache Luna had been wearing. "I'll go this time!"

"I don't think that using the same trick twice in a row will work." Luan said. "And Lincoln is onto us now so we really have to be careful!"

"Forget Stinkcoln!" Lynn said. "What we need to do is get rid of those jerks he hired! If they're gone, then nothing is getting in our way!"

"Lynn has a valid point." Lisa said. "If we find a way to remove those cromagnon creeps, we are guaranteed entry the house and the party within. But what is the best way to deal with those two?"

"Like, maybe they'll let us in if we ask them nicely?" Leni offered.

"Leni, that isn't gonna work." Luan said. "Lori already tried asking Lincoln, remember?"

"Yeah, she asked Lincoln. I'm saying we should try asking Henry and Hubert."

"Hank and Hawk." Lisa corrected her. "And do you really think those two would just permit us entry to the household when Lincoln is paying them to keep us out?"

"Maybe." Leni said with a shrug. "We won't know if we don't try."

Lisa rubbed her chin as she thought it over "Boys are relatively simple by nature." She said "Maybe with a little...sweet talk, they might let us back inside. It couldn't possibly go any worse than our previous attempt. However, the only one who can accomplish this little endeavor would be you, Leni."

"What?" Luan asked. "Why her?"

"Yeah, like, why me?" Leni asked.

"Simple." Lisa said "Lily, Lola, Lana, Lucy and myself are far too young to use feminine wiles on two people so much older than ourselves. Luan's penchant for puns and wordplay would undoubtedly annoy them. Lynn already holds a grudge and would not be willing to do this. Lori is presently in a relationship with Bobby, and Luna has been progressing with Sam quite well as of late. So it would be safe to presume that attempts from either of them to charm those two would be half-hearted at best."

"Yeah, and besides..." Luna added in. "You're so nice it's kinda hard for people not to get along with you. If any of us have a chance it's gonna be you, sis!"

"Aw, thanks you guys!" Leni said, blushing a bit from the praise. "I'll totes give it my best shot! I'm going to go and do that right now!"

The blonde left in a hurry, determined to do what she could to help out her sisters. As she approached the front porch, she was busily thinking up what to say to the boy guarding the door. Hawk had seen her coming and had his water gun refilled and prepped before she even got to the yard. He waited for her to get near the first step on the porch and then raised the water weapon, aiming for her face.

"Not another step." he warned. "I've already taken care of three of your sisters, so don't think I'm fooling around!"

Leni backed up a tiny bit, raising her hands. "Okay, I'll just stand over here. Please don't shoot. I don't want to get soda in my hair, or clothes, or anyplace else."

"Then just turn around and go back they way you came." Hawk said. "You know that your brother doesn't want you at the party!"

"But does that mean I have to leave?" Leni asked. "Like, the party isn't in the front yard, is it?"

"Uhh, well, no..." Hawk said.

"So, I can just hang out here?" Leni said. "Cuz, I wouldn't mind chatting with you for a bit. If that's okay."

"If you want someone to talk to, then go see your sisters."

"Yeah, but I talk to them, like, all the time!" Leni said. "I've never talked with you. And I like meeting new people! Although, I guess we kinda already met. But let's do it the right way this time. Hi! I'm Leni!"

"Hawk." the boy replied,

"So, what's my brother paying you to do this?" Leni asked.

"Chocolate." Hawk answered. "A big box of it."

"OOOH! I _LOVE_ chocolate! What kind is your favorite?"

"Uh, I like milk chocolate with peanuts or almonds in it." Hawk said, slowly beginning to lower his weapon. "I also like chocolate fudge with lots of walnuts and marshmallows mixed in."

Leni gasped. "My Dad totes makes that for us!"

"No way!" Hawk said, eyes widening a bit as he fully let down his guard. "Lucky!"

Meanwhile, back inside of Vanzilla, the other sisters waited patiently for Leni. A few of them watched from the windows, but could not tell what was going on. Leni was clearly talking with Hawk, but whether or not she was making progress was beyond them. Lisa's phone had lost the feed to the cameras and she was trying to reconnect, with no success so far.

"I can't tell what's going on! Lana said, squinting her eyes. "But it looks like he isn't pointing his water gun at her, so that's good."

"I hope this works. I'm getting sick of sitting in the darn van!" Luan said, leaning back with her hands rested in her lap. "I just want to lay down in my bed!"

"I know what you mean, my coffin is waiting for me. How I miss the darkness and seclusion."

"And I wish to return to my work." Lisa muttered. "I have specimens that require attention."

The sisters began to sit silently for a while after that. The only sound inside of the vehicle was that of their breathing. At some point, Lori let out a heavy sigh and turned to look back over her seat.

"Who's sitting behind me?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"Yo." Luna said, waving at her sister from behind the seat.

"I'm reclining the driver's seat, so scoot."

Luna did as told and Lori laid back, letting out another sigh. She started to stare again, seemingly deep in thought. The other sisters took notice of this, but none were sure if they should dare to say anything. She didn't seem angry anymore, but they didn't want to take chances.

"Sooo..." Luna said, rubbing the back of her neck. "You feelin' better?"

"No, not really." Lori answered. "I've been thinking, and I mean a lot. I'm starting to think that even if we get into that party, it won't really matter. Sure, we'll have fun and we can rub it in our brother's face. But that isn't going to solve the problem."

"It won't?" Luan asked.

Lori shook her head. "Lincoln still isn't going to be happy with us. He will still think he was right to do what he did and he might resent us for crashing his party. I'm worried he might try something else to get back at us. We need to make sure we get our message across to him. So if we do get in then we need to..."

The sound of the door opening cut Lori off and drew the attention of all the girls. Leni popped back into the front seat and turned to face them, smiling and waving.

"Hi, I'm back!"

"So, what happened?" Lori asked, forgetting about what she had been saying. "Are they letting us inside?"

"Oops!" Leni said. "I forgot! Hang on, be right back!"

Leni left again, leaving her sisters to sigh collectively.

"I'm going to confide something in all of you." Lisa said. "I'd sincerely find Leni infuriating at times were it not for the fact that she's so endearing."

"Try sharing a room with her sometime." Lori said, cracking a smirk.

"I'm going to offer a polite pass on that, thank you." Lisa said, adjusting her glasses.

In the next moment Leni returned. She smiled widely and was practically bouncing in her seat.

"He said it's okay for us to go in!" She exclaimed.

"Really?!" The other girls said all at once.

Leni nodded. "Uh-huh! We just gotta wait a couple hours until the party is over..." she trailed off, her eyes widening in realization. "Oh. Dang it!"

The other nine Loud sisters groaned in frustration. Leni let her head hang a little in shame and she twiddled her thumbs.

"Sorry guys." she said.

"Maybe we should just give up." Lucy said. "This is hopeless."

"C"mon Lucy." Lana said. "Just imagine how fun it'll be when we get inside."

"For a few seconds before he has those two gorillas throw us out again." Lucy went on. "I repeat, this is hopeless."

"There's got to be another way inside the house." Lola said. "Lisa. What about your bunker, don't you have some kind of secret doorway from the house to there?"

"I'm afraid not, elder sister." Lisa said "I believed that creating a hidden entrance to my bunker would be unnecessary. So I neglected to include one when it was constructed."

Lola folded her arms and grunted in irritation. Lisa let out a sigh of relief and then her eyes darted from side to side, making sure none of her other siblings had witnessed the action. Fortunately they seemed oblivious.

"I don't enjoy lying to my siblings about the secret entrance to my bunker." she thought, her nervous expression still in place. "But I can't risk Luan finding out about its existence."

To attempt to mask her concern, Lisa returned her attention to her phone. The moment her eyes looked to the device she was met with a pleasant surprise.

"Ah, it seems that I've regained a connection with the surveillance cameras. Let's see what our brother is currently doing."

The Loud Sisters crowded around Lisa,each trying to get a view of the small screen. The screen showed an image of their living room, which seemed to be oddly lacking in people.

"Hey." Luan said. "What gives? Where is everybody?"

"Just a moment." Lisa said as she directed one of the cameras around the room, catching the image of a crowd of people all crowded in the opening of the next room. "They all seem to have relocated in the dining room."

"Well, switch cameras then!" Lola said.

With a few movements of her fingers, Lisa changed the camera feed from one room to another. The karaoke stage in the dining room had been set off to the side, and their kitchen table was back where it belonged in the center of the room. Several people were sitting down in chairs as Lincoln walked around, pouring milk into glasses and giving them to the people. One he had handed of the last glass, he reached into his pocket and set a slightly oversized die on the table. He looked around and smiled at the people who had taken on this challenge, before setting a large jar of jalapeños on the table as well.

"Welcome, one and all!" He said. "To Lincoln's Loud Super Hot and Spicy Pepper eating contest!"

The surrounding people cheered as the sisters took a closer look at the screen. The fifth born child, taking a very strong interest in what her brother had said.

"Did he just say pepper eating contest!?" Lynn asked, a noticeable tone of of dismay in her voice.

"The rules are simple." Lincoln said. "You roll the die, and you have to eat a number of peppers equal to the number you rolled. Take a drink from your glass of milk if you want, it'll cool off your mouth. But if you do, you're disqualified."

"Perdon." Frida said. "But what happens if we finish the jar?"

Lincoln smiled wickedly before reaching down and pulling up another jar. "Then Round one is over." he said. "And in Round 2 we move on to a jar of even hotter peppers."

Lincoln reached down and lifted a tray, on which were jars of peppers. "And so on until we have a winner."

The surrounding people cheered as they gathered in close to watch the contest. Carl, who was standing with his siblings and cousins, frowned at his mother.

"I don't see why you had to enter to contest for me." he said, struggling not to pout. "I'm not like Bobby. I can handle spicy food!"

"I don't think so sweetie." Frida said. "You know how sensitive your stomach is. You already ruined your pants. Let's try and keep you from ruining your underwear."

Carl growled in embarrassment, pulling his hood over his head. Carlota gave an amused laugh at her brothers expression as a few others laughed at the embarrassing comment. Back in Vanzilla, Lynn stewed in anger, her face turning as red as if she had eaten one of those peppers herself.

"That's..." Lynn began, tongue tied by her anger. "This is...That's...WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?! HE CAN'T HOLD A CONTEST THAT I COULD WIN AND NOT LET ME COMPETE!" she shrieked and then kicked the back of the seat in anger.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Lori said. "If you're going to throw a tantrum, take it outside"

Lynn snorted like a bull. "Sorry" she said as she tried to calm down. "It's just...it really gets under my skin. I could totally win at that. But...I can't let it get to me. If I let it get to me then Lincoln wins, and there's no way I'm gonna let Lincoln win anything I'm involved in. No way is he gonna..."

"And the winner of the contest." Lincoln went on. "Receives this!" He lifted a small trophy shaped like a jalapeño pepper on a small stand. "The first Lincoln's Loud Super Hot and Spicy Pepper eating contest trophy!"

All the Loud Sisters froze. Their eyes slowly drifted over to see Lynn. All the color had drained from her face, and her jaw was practically on the ground.

"A trophy?" she repeated. "The winner gets a trophy?!"

All the color that had drained from Lynn's face quickly returned with a vengeance. Her teeth were grinding, and steam was practically gushing from her ears.

"THAT DOES IT!" she screamed.

Lynn crawled over her siblings, kicked off the door to Vanzilla and sprinted back over to their house. She ran up the stairs and pounded on the door angrily.

"LINCOLN!" she shouted. "LET ME IN! YOU ARE NOT LEAVING ME OUT OF A CONTEST THAT I COULD KICK BUTT IN. YOU CAN'T KEEP ME OUT! LINCOLN!"

"Does anybody else have a suggestion?" Lisa queried, turning away from the display Lynn was making.

"Well you're the smart one here, Lisa!" Lola said. "Think of something!"

"Hmmmm. Perhaps we can go about this in a different way." Lisa suggested. "We faced these two hooligans last Halloween and sent them running away in terror. We should be able to do it again."

"Last Halloween we covered them in fake blood." Lucy said "All my fake blood is in the house. We'd need to get the ingredients to make more. And even if we did get the ingredients, making the blood would take too long."

Lisa pushed her glasses up her nose as she thought about it. "Maybe Lana could tunnel her way inside."

"I'd have be somewhere near the house to actually get in that way. Otherwise it would take too long." Lana said. "And those two goons would catch me if I start digging near the house!"

"Here's an idea." Lola said. "How about we cut the power to the house? No power means no party!"

"True." Lisa said. "But the circuit breaker is in the basement, currently out of our reach. And should we try and cut the power a different way, we would have to explain to our parents why the power is out. And then we would certainly face punishment."

Lori let out an exasperated sigh from the front seat. "This is getting us nowhere. We literally need to just find a way to lure Lincoln outside. If we can do that then maybe we can try to get the drop on him. And then we can get him to cooperate with us."

"Yeah and get sprayed with soda again?" Luna asked, gesturing to Lynn who was now being doused a second time by Hank and Hawk. "No thanks. Once was more than enough."

"Hey, what was that last part again, Lori?" Lana asked, scrambling closer to the front seat.

"The part about making Lincoln cooperate with us?"

"No, before that!" Lana said.

"We need to lure him outside and get the drop on him?"

"Yeah, that! I think you just gave me an idea!" The dirty twin said, grinning from ear to ear. "But first we need to get a couple things out of the garage."

 **Please review**  
 **Please don't forget to send some love over to my Co-writer Twisteddarkness225**


	10. Chapter 10

Part 10

The dining room of the Loud House was bustling with excitement. Lincoln's Super Hot and Spicy Pepper Eating Contest was, as Luan would say, really heating up. Round one had already ended and the contestants were all fairing well so far in round two. Not one of them had so much as glanced at the glasses of milk sitting on the table. Although it wasn't that surprising, considering the first set of peppers were on the milder side. But it was getting a bit tempting for one of the contestants.

Rusty huffed and puffed, panting like a tired dog as the heat flooded though his body. He had just rolled the die and it had landed on 5. This would be the third time in a row where he had gotten a high number. The redhead had gotten a few low rolls at the start of the first round, but then came that 6 which had tested his mettle. If things kept going like this, his taste buds might explode.

It was just a good thing these weren't the same peppers used to make hot sauce, or he'd be in real trouble. Thanks to his allergy, he hadn't eaten spicy food very often in his life. But still, this was a lot tougher than he had imagined. He was surprised that no one had dropped out yet, himself included.

"You can do this." Rusty thought to himself, popping the next pepper into his mouth. "You've made it this far. Just need to keep toughing it out!"

His eyes began to water almost instantly as the intense flavor flooded his mouth and burned his nasal cavity. That milk was really starting to seem good about now. But he wasn't going to give in, not with that impressive trophy Lincoln had for the winner. The ladies were into winners, and he was going to be the winner. He just had to outlast the competition. They had to be having as much trouble as he was at this point.

"Alright Haiku." Lincoln said. "You're up next."

Sniffling wetly as the spicy peppers made her nose run like a river, Haiku reached for the die and rolled it. It landed on a 4.

"That's four peppers for you." Lincoln said, placing the jar in front of her.

Using a pair of barbecue tongs, Lincoln pulled four peppers out of the jar and handed them to Haiku. Rusty's eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he saw this spooky looking young lady with a pasty complexion wolf down her peppers with no hesitation. Sweat began to gather on her forehead, and mucus poured form her nostrils like a waterfall, but the look on her face reamined unchanged.

Lincoln tossed the die to his grandfather. "Now it's your turn, Pop-Pop."

Albert grinned as he shook the die in his palm. "C'mon baby!" he said. "Daddy needs a new pair of shoes!"

He rolled the die, and it landed on a 6. Lincoln pulled six peppers out of the jar and handed them to him. Albert tossed each pepper in the air one at a time and caught them in his mouth with ease. Lincoln waited until the display was over wtih before he held up the jar for all to see.

"Looks like the second jar is empty." Lincoln said. "Which means Round 2 is over!"

The crowd cheered as Lincoln went to get the next jar of peppers. Albert looked over at his grandson as he passed by and reached out to tap him on the shoulder.

"Hey Lincoln." he said. "If you're not going to do anything with that jar of pepper juice..."

"Go ahead." Lincoln said as he slid the jar over to him.

Albert poured juice into his mouth and gulped it down with ease, much to the shock of the others at the table. There was a wave of even louder cheering from the surrounding people as he patted his belly and let loose with an ear-splittingly loud belch. Rusty's jaw dropped at the display.

"Nuts to this!" Rusty muttered, grabbing his glass of milk and draining it dry. "I'm out!"

"And thats one down!" Lincoln announced. "Who will be the next to fall?"

Lincoln reached under the table, pulled out a box of tissues and a jar of wet wipes, and set them in front of the contestants.

"Feel free to clean yourselves up before we start round three." he said. "We'll start with the next contestant just as soon as you're all done."

While the contestants took a moment to do as Lincoln suggested, the host decided to step out of the room to check on things. It had been a little while since his sisters had last attempted something and he felt like something was going to happen at any given moment. But after checking with both Hank and Hawk, he was surprised to learn that nothing had happened that was worth noting since Lynn's earlier outburst.

Leaving his security guards to their work, Lincoln returned to the contest. He brought out the next jar of peppers and handed the die to Maria. The woman rolled and landed on a 2. Lincoln opened the new jar and gave two peppers to her, which she ate quickly. Next it was Frida's turn. Her roll landed on a 4 and she scarfed down her peppers even faster than her sister, giving her a smug look as she finished.

"Don't get cocky, Frida." Maria warned. "Just because you aren't having trouble doesn't mean that you're going to win."

"Easy for you to say. Keep in mind that I eat Mama's cooking everyday. And you went without it for how many years?" Frida countered.

"That doesn't mean anything. I can still beat you in this contest. Just you wait."

The two watched as the die was passed back to Haiku. The girl only got a 1 this time, but when it came to be Pop Pop's turn again, he got a 6. The man popped the peppers into his mouth three at a time, not even the least bit bothered by their intense spiciness.

"Then again..." Maria said. "Maybe we should keep an eye on the other contestants too."

Frida nodded, taking a look at the number of peppers left in the current jar. At the rate things were going, odds were this one would be empty without another person dropping out. They had some surprisingly tough competitors to deal with before either of them could claim that trophy. Gloating over which of them was able to best the other wouldn't mean much if they lost to the old man or the little, pale girl.

A sudden noise startled the two women. They looked over their shoulders and saw someone pressing her face against the dining room window. Maria believed she recognized her as one of Lori's younger sisters. Although she honestly couldn't recall which one. The red jersey and freckled face rang a bell, but she couldn't quite place it with a name.

Lynn frowned at her brother from her place outside. She was definitely going to give him a good butt-kicking for this one. And if Lana's plan worked, it would be happening soon enough. All she needed was for one of Lincoln's goons to show up to try and run her off.

"Hey! Back away from the house!" Came the sound of Hank's voice from behind her. "You should know by now that we aren't gonna let you in!"

Bingo.

"Ah, blow it out your nose you butt-faced baboon." Lynn said, turning to face him.

"What did you just say?!" Hank snarled, his face starting to turn red.

"I said you have a face that only a mother can love." Lynn replied. "And I think your mom is in denial."

Hank fired a stream of soda at her. Lynn, who was prepared for it this time, side stepped and then began to run. She made sure he was following her as she rounded the corner and crossed the front yard. Hawk was on the front porch and she blew a raspberry at him as she passed. The boy grabbed his own water gun and joined Hank stepped down to be ready in case any of the other sisters attempted to try something.

Unknown to either of the bullies, Lynn had indeed made an opening for her sisters next plan. But not so they could try to get in through the front door. No, what they needed to do was get into the garage. While she was busy creating a diversion, Lana snuck through Mr. Grouse's yard,a length of rope coiled up and slung over one shoulder. She got to the side of the garage that faced it and tried the window, finding that it was unlocked, just as she had hoped. The girl slid the window open and crawled inside.

As soon as her feet touched the floor, Lana scrambled over to grab the ladder. She made her way over to the window, looking outside to watch the two bullies drive Lynn away. Lana chuckled to herself as her plan began to set in motion.

"Think you're so smart, don't you Lincoln?" Lana thought. "Well you might be a smart little boy, but so am I...I mean...I'm just as smart as you are so...meh forget it."

Lana watched as Lynn sprinted away from the house, the bullies spraying cola at her as she left. Her eyes slowly drifted from her sister to the mudpit where Liam's pig sat, quietly sleeping in the filth she had worked so hard to create. Lana stared at Virginia longingly, feeling envy and anger bubbling up in her stomach.

Or that might've been the chili fries she had eaten earlier at the mall.

Either way, she was unhappy.

"Just you wait." Lana muttered under her breath. "As soon as we get Lincoln, I'm taking you down with my bare hands. I'm gonna turn you into pork chops. Just you wait."

She turned her eyes back to the lump of a teenaged boy standing outside the door. Hawk stood on the porch, watching his friend chase Lynn around for a few minutes before heading inside. Lana opened the door to the garage, walked out and quietly shut it. She held the ladder under her free arm, barely able to carry the thing by herself.

"Gotta work fast." Lana said. "Before they see me."

She quickly shuffled over to the left side of the house, making sure not to cross directly in front to the windows to avoid being seen. Then she set up ladder, keeping her eyes peeled for anyone who may happen to pass by. As she climbed up and stepped onto the roof, she took a moment to look out into the horizon before pulling out her phone and calling her sisters.

"Okay, phase one is a success." she said. "I made it on top of the roof."

"So this was your big plan?" Lola asked. "Getting onto the roof? What are you going to do, crawl in through the chimney?"

Lana snorted in annoyance. "Of course not." she said. "I can't crawl in from there, the opening is too small. And even if I got in, what's to stop someone from catching me? The house is full of people. I'd be outside again before I could blink!"

"Well, what is your plan then?" Lori asked.

"I just need one of you to get Lincoln to come back outside." Lana said. "Once you get him off the porch, I can pounce on him from up here and hogtie him. Once we have him trapped, then we can make sure that he won't get back into the party unless he lets us come in too."

"Okay, then leave it to me." Lori replied. "Just don't jump until I have him in place. I don't need you getting hurt."

"Relax, sis." Lana said. "I'll be able to do that, no problem. Lincoln won't see it coming. This is guaranteed to work.

 **Meanwhile, inside of the house.**

"Yeah, whatever it is they're planning, it's not going to work." Lincoln said. "Thanks for letting me know what's going on Hawk. Could you do me a favor and go find Liam for me? Tell him that there's a the fox near the hen house. He'll know what it means."

Hawk nodded and turned to leave. Lincoln returned his attention to the contest, not wanting to miss another second. Things were really getting interesting now. Pop Pop and Mrs. Santiago both seemed to be getting close to their limit. It was hard to say who would give in first, but that was half the fun in watching.

Lincoln felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned to find Ronnie Anne standing behind him. The serious look on her face gave Lincoln the impression that she meant business, whatever it was that she wanted. Hopefully not because he had done something to upset her.

"Hey Ronnie Anne, what's up?" he asked.

"I want a rematch." She replied. "You, me, and Dance Battle. You won't be so lucky this time"

"Okay, that sounds good to me. But after the contest, if you don't mind waiting."

"That's fine by me. Looking forward to beating you." She said, a smug smirk on her face.

Ronnie Anne left Lincoln to finish his contest, heading into the living room where she joined Carlota. The older girl had been patiently waiting for her cousin to return. And the moment Ronnie Anne was by her side she smiled excitedly.

"So? How did it go?" Carlota asked.

"He agreed to the rematch." Ronnie said.

"Good! So, when you two have your rematch..." Carlota started.

"I compliment him on his dancing after, no matter who wins." Ronnie Anne finished.

"And then?"

Ronnie Anne's cheeks flushed a bit pink. "I...I ask him for a dance downstairs in the VIP area. A slow dance. But do I have to?"

"Trust me chica, you'll be grateful you did." Carlota said. "While you two are nice and close, you can talk a little and catch up. He'll forget all about that other girl and you'll have your man back."

"He isn't my man!" Ronnie Anne grumbled.

"He will be if you do as I told you. Just wait. You'll see."

 **Back outside, where Vanzilla was currently parked.**

Leni got out of Vanzilla, nervously twiddling her fingers. "I dunno about this Lori." she said. "What if Lincoln gets hurt?"

"Oh come on." Lori said. "He's wrestled with Lynn and she's much heavier than Lana. He can handle this. And besides, he hurt us by kicking us out of the house and not letting us join his party."

"I know but..." Leni said. "It still doesn't feel right. This is his party and yeah, it still seems unfair that..."

"He keeps us out?" Lori said. "I know, but once we get him stuck outside, he'll have to let us in. We'll worry about how he feels about it later. Now get moving."

Leni nervously walked back up the street to their house. As she approached the house, a red blur sped past her, nearly knocking her down. She looked behind her to see Lynn running towards Vanzilla, just keeping out of range of the soda stream firing from Hank's water gun.

"And STAY out!" Hank shouted after her before heading back into the house.

Gulping down a nervous lump in her throat, Leni walked up to her house. Glancing upwards, she saw Lana standing on the roof, waving at her with one hand and holding a rope in the other. She took a deep breath, exhaled and knocked on the door. Hawk answered, stepping back outside, his water gun pointed at Leni's face.

"Can I help you?" He asked.

"Um..yeah." Leni began. "I...I was just wondering if you could tell Lincoln that I need to talk to him. Please."

"He's busy." Hawk said flatly.

"Oh come on." Leni said batting her eyelashes at him "It'll only take a minute. Pretty please?"

Hawk shuffled uncomfortably, his face going a bit red. He gave a groan of irritation "Just hang on" he said "I'll go see if I can get him

He stepped into the house and returned a minute later, a young boy with white hair and wearing an orange shirt following close behind. Leni brightened up at seeing her little brother and eagerly waited for him to step down from the porch. She smiled sweetly at him, taking a moment to glance up at Lana on the roof before returning her attention to the boy.

"Hey Lincoln. Um..." She said, begining to rub the back of her neck. "Like, I just wanted to say that I'm totes sorry about this."

" _ **Geronimo!**_ "

Lana leaped down on the boy, catching him by complete surprise. The moment she made contact with him, she moved quickly to tie him up with her rope. The two tumbled across the lawn, Lana's hands swiftly weaving the rope around the boy's wrists and ankles, leaving him fully hog-tied in just shy of fifteen seconds.

"We did it!" Lana cheered, pumping her hands into the air. "We got him!"

"Yay!" Leni chirped, clapping happily. "I'll go get Lori and the others!"

"Don't bother." Hawk said. "You aren't getting in."

"But we've got Lincoln!" Lana said triumphantly. "And he isn't going back inside unless we go with him."

Hawk grinned and pointed at the captive boy. "Check again, kid. That may not be who you think it is."

"Huh?" Leni asked, tilting her head to one side a bit. "What are you talking about? Of course it's Lincoln! He's got white hair and everything! See?"

Leni reached down to put her hand onto the younger boy's snowy locks. But the moment she did so, said locks came off and fell to the ground. Both she and Lana gaped at the sight and gasped as a head of red hair was revealed.

"Ohmygosh!" Leni gasped. "Lincoln! You've been wearing a wig this entire time?!"

"No Leni! That's not Lincoln at all!" Lana corrected. "That's his friend from the farm. The kid who brought that pig that's in my mudpit!"

"Yes Ma'am, that's me. The name is Liam by the way." Liam said, sitting up. "And my pig is named Virginia. And while we're talking about her, I should let y'all know that she's an attack pig. Here, let me show ya."

Liam whistled and a loud squeal was heard from the back yard. Virginia came running around the house, spotting her master sitting tied up. Liam gestured towards Leni, making Virginia look at the blonde teen.

"Get em Virginia!"

Virginia charged at Leni, the girl letting out a frightened shriek and turning to run. Lana watched as the pig advanced on her older sister and then smiled confidently.

"Oh this is perfect! I wanted a chance to take you on! Come here piggy!"

Lana made ready to chase after and tackle Virginia, but didn't get to take a single step before she felt liquid striking her in the back. She turned around and found herself being heavily doused by Hawk's water gun. But unlike her sisters, she wasn't quite so bothered by the attack. If anything she had been hoping he'd do that.

"Nice try, but if you think a little soda is gonna scare me off, then you're dead wrong." Lana said. "I play in the garbage all the time. I'm used to being sticky!"

"I know." Hawk replied. "That's why the boss told us to use something special if you tried to get in the way. Go ahead and and check for yourself."

Lana stared at him for a moment but then began to inspect the liquid that was soaking into her clothes and coating her skin. She quickly discovered that it wasn't soda at all. Although it did smell tasty. Almost like...

"Strawberries?" Lana asked. "Did you use strawberry juice or something?"

Hawk shook his head. "Nope. It's just what it smells like. It's Strawberry Shortcake scented body wash."

"Body wash?" Lana echoed, her eyes widening a bit. "As in soap?! You...you made me clean?!"

'"Yup. Squeaky clean." Hawk said, a taunting smirk on his face.

Lana's lip trembled a bit, tears starting to well up in the corners of her eyes. "This isn't fair! I took a bath last week!" She cried, turning and running for the nearest garbage can, scrambling inside.

 **-Back inside-**

The pepper eating contest had entered its fifth round and seven of the ten people who had entered the contest had quit. Ronnie Anne's mother Maria, Pop-Pop and Haiku were the only ones left. Maria wiped the sweat off her forehead and the drool off her mouth before reaching for the die and rolling rolled the length of the table before coming to a stop in front of Lincoln.

"Looks like a three." Lincoln said, grabbing his tongs and fishing three peppers out of the jar.

He handed the peppers to Maria. She popped one in her mouth, chewed and swallowed with effort. But then tossed her remaining two peppers into her mouth, only to gag loudly while trying to chew. Lincoln rushed over with a small wastebasket. Maria grabbed it and spat out a mouthful of chewed up peppers into it. Then she grabbed her glass of milk.

"Sorry." she said raspily. "But I'm done."

Lincoln nodded as Maria chugged her way to relief. Lincoln took his place back at the head of the table. Looking at out his sisters friend and his grandfather.

"And then there we're two." he said.

Cheers broke out in the surrounding audience. Lincoln waited for them to settle down before speaking.

"Now that only two contestants remain." Lincoln said. "I think it's only fitting that this contest go into sudden death!"

The cheers rang out again. Lincoln noticed the corners of Haiku's mouth slightly turn upwards, probably at the mention of the word "death". Lincoln went into the kitchen, and quickly returned with a blender and a packet of dixie cups.

He handed the cups to Clyde, who began setting the cups on the table. After plugging the blender in, he poured all the remaining jars of peppers into it, and set it on high. After about a minute the peppers had been ground up into a chunky liquid, which he began pouring into the dixie cups.

"This smoothie has all the spicy peppers you hadn't eaten yet." Lincoln explained. "We're gonna see which one of you can handle the heat. Because whoever can choke down more cups of this smoothie than the other before going for their milk, wins the contest!"

Albert grinned at Haiku. "Think you can take the heat, little lady?" he asked.

"I'm not touching that milk." Haiku said flatly.

"Suit yourself, kiddo." he said. "I'm gonna take it to ya!"

Lincoln raised his hand up, waiting for both remaining contestants to ready themselves. Once they seemed set to go, he swung his hand down to signal the start of the sudden death round. Albert grabbed the nearest cup and gulped it all down in one go. Haiku took hers with a bit more pacing, but finished it up quickly enough. Both moved onto their second cups the same way, and then third, and then the fourth. By this time it became notable to all onlookers that things were about to finish. The two contestants were clearly reaching their limits, Haiku especially. She was seeming really hesitant to drink from her fifth cup, leaving Albert with the confidence to grab his next one.

"Sorry, but it looks like I have this one in the bag." he said confidently. "Better luck next time."

Albert inhaled the cup, soon learning it was a mistake to do so. The smoothie almost went down his windpipe and he ended up coughing it up a little, managing to get a good portion to fire from his nose. The intense burning that filled his nasal cavity in the following seconds made his eyes flow with enough tears to make Niagra falls look like a leaking faucet.

"Oh sweet mother of mercy!" Albert cried out. "That stings!"

Albert grabbed his cup of milk and splashed it into his face, trying to get it into his nose with the hopes to alleviate the horrible sensation that he was experiencing. Fortunately for him it worked, albeit at a cost. Haiku had finished her fifth cup, and even managed to follow it up with a sixth.

"We have a winner!" Lincoln said amidst a wave of applause from the surrounding people, gesturing to Haiku. "And I think I speak for all of us when I say that was amazing! You even beat my sister Lynn's record for most spicy peppers eaten in one sitting! Feel free to drink your milk now if you want."

"No thanks, I don't want to." Haiku said.

"You're sure?" Lincoln asked. "The contest is over, so it's no big deal if you do."

"Actually, it is." Haiku replied. "Because I'm lactose intolerant."

"Oh..." Lincoln said. "Can I get you a soda?"

"Blood Orange flavor please." she asked. "I brought some and put them in the cooler earlier."

Lincoln moved through the dispersing crowd of people, ran into the living room, snagged a can of soda from the cooler and brought it to Haiku. She began sipping the drink slowly to cool her burning mouth, as Lincoln went back into the living room. Ronnie Anne stood amidst a crowd of people, standing on her dance pad, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Well it took you long enough!" she said. "Everyone came to watch me kick your butt. The least you could do is show up fast!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Lincoln said as he rolled his eyes. "Next time I'm hosting a pepper eating contest, I'll be sure to tell the contestants to eat faster."

"You do that." Carlota said. "There's no reason a boy should keep his girlfriend waiting."

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne both went pink. "He's not my boyfriend!" Ronnie Anne said.

"I'm not her boyfriend!" Lincoln said at the same time.

"Sure." Carlota said with a playful grin. "You're not dating. And you're not dancing with each other either."

"We're dancing against each other." Ronnie Anne said. "There's a difference"

Carlota shrugged. "If you say so."

Lincoln turned to Ronnie Anne, his blush slowly fading away. "So how will we do this?"

"Best of three rounds, like earlier." Ronnie Anne said. "Winner of each round chooses the music."

"Sounds good to me." Lincoln said. "And since I won our last match, I'll choose the music first."

Ronnie Anne shrugged her shoulders as Lincoln picked the song. Then he stepped back on his dance pad just as the music began to start. Ronnie Anne turned to Lincoln.

"Oh, wait a second." she said. "There's one more thing I need to do before we start."

"What's that?" Lincoln asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Ronnie Anne stomped on Lincoln's foot, making him hop up and down, yelling in pain. Ronnie Anne stepped on her pads with a wicked smile on her face.

"Okay, I'm ready to go whenever you are."

"Cheater!" Lincoln said.

"Better than being a loser." Ronnie replied, starting to dance.

Lincoln gave her a dirty look and then quickly fell into step with the music. He was familiar enough with this song to know the steps by memory. So he could keep an eye on his opponent to make sure she didn't try any more funny business. Thankfully her little stunt had gotten her a couple disapproving comments from onlookers.

"At least no one is laughing." Lincoln thought as he slowly gained the upper hand over Ronnie Anne. "I bet Lynn would've found that hilarious."

He wasn't wrong, Lynn did find it hilarious. She had burst out into hearty, yet spiteful laughter at the sight. In fact she had enjoyed it so much that she wanted to see it again."

"Is there a way we can rewind this?" She asked, grabbing Lisa's phone.

"No, I'm afraid not. Please return that to me now." Lisa said, reaching and taking it back.

"Oh well, maybe she'll do it again." Lynn said hopefully.

"Dude, why would you want that?" Luna asked.

"It serves him right!" The jock answered. "Thanks to him, not only did I miss out on a great chance to win another first place trophy, but my pepper eating record just got beat by one of _Lucy's_ friends! Now I have to break it again!"

Lucy shuddered at those words. "Which means I'll be staying in someone else's room for a while."

"No you won't." Lynn said. "Because after I'm done, I'm bunking with Lincoln for however long it takes to let those bad boys pass through my system."

"In that case, I'll start planning his funeral."

"Enough, both of you." Lori said. "We need to think of our next plan. At the rate things are going, the party will be over before we get inside!"

"Not unless the party gets stopped early." Luna said, peeking out the window at the house next to their own. "Mr. G. looks like he isn't happy about the noise. Just saw him getting his mail and he didn't seem to like the noise coming out of our place."

"Oh no. I hope he doesn't call the police like he did that time we had all of our friends over at the same time!" Leni said. "Lincoln would get in so much trouble if that happened!"

Lori's eyes widened. She turned to look back from the front seat at her younger sister, a wide grin on her face.

"You're a genius!"

"Um, no. I'm Leni." the second oldest said. "Lisa is over there."

"Dude, your aren't gonna do what I think you're gonna do. Are you?" Luna asked.

Lori took out her phone. "Oh, I'm going to do it alright. I just wish we had thought of it sooner." She dialed a number and waited patiently for an answer, getting one on the second ring. "Hello, is this the Royal Woods Police Department?"

 **First, Twisteddarkness225 and I would like to apologize for taking so long with this we've both been dealing with some harsh problems in our lives, which take up or time for writing. We hope that you'll bear with us as we write.**

 **please review**  
 **and don't forget to send some love over to Twisteddarkness225**


	11. Chapter 11

_Oh I think you're crazy_

 _Can't have my love_

 _Oh I think you're crazy_

 _Can't have my heart_

 _So crazy boy_

A bright, peppy KPop song played as a crowd of people cheered. The surrounded Lincoln and Ronnie Anne as they watched the TV screen intently, stomping on the arrow pads as needed. Ronnie Anne's feet moved at an alarmimg pace, whereas Lincoln seemed to put a bit extra flair into his moves. Ronnie Anne smirked at him

"Nice moves Lame-o" she said "Who taught them to you? A one-legged monkey?"

"Last I checked you had two legs, Ronnie Anne" Lincoln fired back

Ronnie Anne frowned before raising her foot to kick Lincoln in the butt. Only for him jump off the pad, leaving her to kick the air, making her lose her balance and fall over. He quickly jumped back on the pad and kept dancing as Ronnie Anne struggled to get back up and finish her dance. Once the song had finished, everyone could see that Lincoln had a higher score. Ronnie Anne grumbled in anger

"Cheater" she mumbled

"Cheater?" Lincoln repeated "You stomped on my foot in the first round and tried to kick me in the second. How am I the cheater?"

"You just are" Ronnie Anne said in annoyance "Now hurry up and pick the next song so I can kick your butt!"

"Okay, but you missed it the first time." Lincoln said, scrolling through the options. "Oh, here we go."

With a smirk that caught Ronnie Anne's curiosity, Lincoln picked out the next song. He took his place on his dance pad and the two began to take the first steps as the song began to play.

 _Clock is ticking..._

 _Time is running out_

 _Every second counts_

 _Overthinking..._

 _I can't turn it off_

 _So I'll turn it out._

 _All we know is La La La La La_

Ronnie Anne looked at Lincoln with a slightly incredulous gaze. "Dude, you're into bubblegum pop music?"

Lincoln shrugged. "Yeah. So? We just did Kpop. You know you like it too."

"Yeah. I do like it." Ronnie Anne admitted. "You know what else I like?"

"What?"

Ronnie suddenly grabbed the waist of Lincoln's pants and yanked downwards on them forcefully. The next thing the boy knew, his pants were around his ankles and his red victory undies were exposed for all to see. Ronnie Anne let out a laugh and pointed at him tauntingly.

"The look on your face right now! That's the best!" She jeered, continuing to dance while Lincoln struggled in his awkward predicament. "What's the matter Lame-O? don't want to keep dancing?"

Lincoln frowned at her and then stopped trying to dance. To her surprise, he grinned and then kicked his pants off to the side. Ronnie, as well as many onlookers, were completely confused by the action.

"Go ahead and laugh." Lincoln said. "But the joke is on you, Ronalda. I can dance even better when I'm comfortable."

He resumed dancing, quickly making up for the time he lost after he had been pantsed. The sight of him not only dancing without his pants, but doing even better than before, left Ronnie Anne dumbfounded. She began to miss her steps and tried to focus on the screen. But she had trouble keeping up. It wasn't just distracting to dance next to Lincoln like this, it was a bit unnerving. She never would have guessed her plan would backfire. There were people watching him for crying out loud! When did he get the nerve to just let something as embarrassing as this slide?!

Before long, the song was over and Lincoln had won. Again. He retrieved his pants and put them back on, then turning to give Ronnie a winning smile.

"Wow Ronnie Anne. Even when you cheat you can't beat me"

"Shut it!" Ronnie said, blushing angrily. "And just what the heck was that? Since when are you cool with being seen in your underwear by so many people?!"

"Have you forgotten how many times you've pulled my pants down in public before? Pretty much everyone in fifth grade has seen you do it before you moved. Plus the time you got me in the city. I think I'm just used to it by now. Plus, there was no way I was gonna pass up the chance to defeat you after you tried that sneaky stunt."

"Yeah, well whatever. Good game." Ronnie Anne said.

She turned to leave, thinking of grabbing some snacks and finding something to do. But she spotted Carlota and suddenly remembered what her older cousin had instructed her to do after her rematch with Lincoln. Carlota smiled at her and subtely gestured for her to go ahead with it. Ronnie blushed and looked back at Lincoln, quickly meeting his eyes before looking down at the floor.

"Hey, since you're so good at dancing, maybe we can do it again. D-downstairs this time. In the VIP area. A...A slow one...okay?" She said, her voice becoming meeker with each word.

Lincoln blushed. "Oh, um...yeah." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. "That sounds good to me. Meet you down there in a little bit?"

Lincoln watched Ronnie Anne walk away, heat and redness slowly rising into his face. A peal of whistles, catcalls and cheers rang out from behind him. He turned to see a group of his party guests, grinning at him, some making kissy faces at him.

Lincoln frowned. "Okay, cut it out."

"Oh c'mon Lincoln." Joey said. "Don't be embarassed. There's no shame in your game!"

"And besides." Becky added. "Your sisters aren't here so somebody has to make a big deal out if this."

"Ay Lincoln." Frida said as her eyes began to well up. "Ustedes dos se ven tan lindos juntos."

"Now Frida." Maria said. "He's embarassed. No need to make this any more awkward for him."

"Thank you Ms. Santiago." Lincoln said.

"It's funny though." Carl said as he walked up to the other boy. "You aren't embarrassed about dancing in your underwear in front of so many people, but Ronnie Anne asks you to slow dance and all of a sudden your face looks like una cereza grande."

There were a few snickers before Lincoln stormed off. "I need a soda." he grumbled under his breath.

Maria leaned over to her sister in law, and whispered a question into her ear "Did you get a picture?"

Frida held her cellphone out to Maria. On the screen was an image of Lincoln and Ronnie Anne after their match, struggling to look at each other. Maria smiled widely as she sent the picture to her own phone.

"And there's my new wallpaper." she said.

 _-Back outside-_

Vanzilla was parked about a block away, and the rickety old clunker shook about as the Loud Sisters chattered nosily about their latest idea.

"This is perfect!" Lori said after hanging up her call with the Royal Woods Police Department. "There's no way the police would just let an eleven year old hold a party, completely unsupervised with so many people. When they come down here and see that, they'll be sure to shut down the party."

"But Lori." Leni said. "I thought you said you wanted to get in to the party!"

"I did. And now I don't care anymore." Lori said "Since it's not happening, I'll settle for just shutting the party down and getting back inside our house. I'm tired of being stuck out here!"

"I dunno about this" Lucy droned "I'm upset that Lincoln would do this, but getting him in trouble with the police seems to be going overboard."

Luna nodded in agreement. "Luce has got a point" she said "Don't you think calling the cops on our little brother is going a bit too far? Mom and Pops are gonna freak when they find out!"

"That's our brother's problem." Lori said a touch tersely. "He has this coming. We gave him the chance to let us in. We asked nicely and he just had us kicked out. I just wish I could call the police a second time to rat him out."

"Well, you could do that." Luan chimed in. "You could use Lisa's phone. It's got a voice changing function on it, and it also has a number randomizer function so it won't show up in their systems as the same number. You might be able to get faster results if you call them. multiple times."

Lisa cleared her throat. "And how exactly do you know about the enhanced functions on my communication device?" she asked.

Luan's eyes darted around nervously. "Well...I can assure you that it's not because I use your phone to make crank calls on the weekend!"

Lisa rolled her eyes before handing her phone to Lori. "Let's just get this over with. But before initiating another call, do a quick test to ensure that the voice modifier is functioning. It does occasionally require a miniscule period of time to activate."

Lori, following Lisa's directions, turned the voice modifier on. She waited for a moment and then took a short, steady breath before dialing the number for the police station again. Once the call was answered, she began to speak. To her and the other sisters, she sounded the same. But the person on the other end of the call would never have guessed they were speaking with the same teenage girl who had just called them only a few minutes before.

By the time she finished the call, Lori was smiling wickedly. "Oh, this is too good. I might just feel sorry for Lincoln. If he has the common sense to apologize to us later on. After he gets busted."

A sinister chuckle escaped the blonde's throat as she dialed again. She began the new call not too differently than the ones before, her smile not leaving her face for even a moment.

 _-Back inside-_

Lincoln was standing at the end of a line for the bathroom. It was a little longer than usual given the large number of people in the house, but he was used to waiting. Plus it was refreshing for the young boy to see some different faces there for a change.

As he anxiously waited at the end of the line, Girl Jordan spotted him and greeted him with a small smile. She seemed a bit antsy to Lincoln, shifting her weight slightly from one foot to the other. It was something he had seem many times before with his sisters and parents when stuck in the bathroom line and he could sympathize. Being towards the back of a long line when you had to go was the worst.

"Hey Girl Jordan." Lincoln said. "Enjoying the party?"

Girl Jordan nodded. "It's been a lot of fun. Um, out of curiosity...there wouldn't happen to be another bathroom that you forgot to mention, would there?"

Lincoln shook his head. "Sorry. Just the one. My parents had one in their room, but it had a bad plumbing problem and got completely ruined. There was also one out in the garage, but my parents had my sister Lana get rid of it for some reason."

"Oh, dang it!" Girl Jordan whimpered. "I don't think I can wait much longer!"

"Try not to think about it too much." Lincoln advised. "I find it helps if you have something to keep you occupied while you wait. Keeps your mind off of the need to go. We can talk about stuff if it you want. Do anything fun lately? I mean, besides coming to my party?"

She giggled. "Not really. But my dad and I are going hiking next weekend."

"Cool. Where are you going?"

"Munising. We're going to leave bright and early and make a day out of it. I'm really looking forward to going." Jordan said before pausing and letting out a giggle. "Oops, poor choice of words."

Lincoln laughed with her. The two continued their conversation as they waited for the line to shorten. In what felt like no time at all, girl Jordan found herself finally getting her turn to use the bathroom, rushing inside the moment the door opened and shoving boy Jordan out.

Lincoln hummed to himself while he awaited his own turn in the bathroom. He felt someone tap him on the shoulder and turned to find Carlota standing behind him. She looked a bit annoyed and Lincoln could tell she had something to say.

"Oh...hey Carlota. Is something up?"

"No, not really." She said. "Just didn't want to interrupt you while you were talking to that friend of yours. You're pretty popular with the girls, aren't you?"

"Huh? Um, maybe. I never really thought of it like that."

"Well let me just say this. If Ronalda had seen you two, she might have been a bit jealous."

Lincoln let out a quick laugh. "Ronnie Anne? Jealous? Just because I was talking with a friend?"

"A friend who is a girl." Carlota said. "And yes, she might be. She certainly seemed a little jealous when she saw you being friendly with that other girl earlier. You do know that she still likes you, right?"

"Well yeah, of course I do."

"Good. Then you should make sure to let her know how you feel about her. Tell her during your dance downstairs. It may not have seemed obvious, but she's really excited to get to share a nice, slow dance with you."

"Are you sure we're talking about the same Ronnie Anne?" Lincoln asked, tilting his head a little bit.

Carlota smiled. "As sure as I am that the two of you make an adorable couple."

Lincoln blushed. He was about to tell Carlota that things weren't like that between him and Ronnie Anne when he heard someone calling for him. Hank came up the stairs, a sense of urgency about him and told him he needed to come to the front door. Lincoln, who was grateful for the excuse to walk away from the conversation he was having, quickly followed Hank down to the door where he found a police officer waiting for him.

Lincoln looked up at the heavyset, ponytailed woman with a look of curiosity. It was the same police officer who had arrested his mother some time ago.

"Good afternoon, Officer Schoffner." Lincoln said respectfully.

"Hello Lincoln." she said. "Are you parents home right now?"

"No ma'am." he said. "Is there a problem?"

"I'm afraid so." she answered. "We've received multiple complaints of loud noises coming from a party being held at this address."

Officer Schoffner poked her head in though the door, looking through the crowd of people. Some of them were chatting happily, some were playing video games, some were eating. She frowned at what she saw as it was not what she expected.

"Although." she said. "Clearly this party isn't quite as wild and noisy as I thought. One of the complaints was that the noise could be heard from a block away. It seems we were fed some exaggerations."

Lincoln shrugged. "I didn't think we were being that loud." he said with a chuckle. "Even though this is...you know, the Loud house"

Officer Schoffner smirked a bit. "So you said you're parents weren't at home?" she asked "Well then who's supervising this party?"

Lincoln fidgeted nervously, he didn't want to lie to a police officer. "No one really." he said after a moment.

"So your parents just let you hold a party with no adults around?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well...no" Lincoln said "My grandparents are here. My friends' mom and aunt are here, my teacher and school principal are here. My old tutor is here and he's in college. I invited plenty of adults to my party."

She nodded. "Is that so?" she said. "Hmm..."

Lincoln began to get a nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach as the policewomans gaze settled on him. As his eyes flitted around nervously, they came to a stop on, what was unmistakably Vanzilla coming down the street. His eyes narrowed at the vehicle. It became obvious to him very quickly that his sisters must've been behind this. Returning his attention to Officer Schoffner, he cleared his throat.

"Officer, I understand if you're not sure about leaving just yet." he said, smiling at the idea that had just formed in his mind. "I know how this looks, being called to a house where a kid is having a big house party. There are adults here, so it's not unsupervised, but...I suppose you don't like the idea of leaving with a kid in charge of a party that you've already been called to once."

"You're right." she said. "I don't."

"Well..." he said. "Maybe I can offer you a way for you to make sure that my party doesn't get out of control."

"I'm listening."

A few moments later, the sisters could see Lincoln stepping aside to allow the officer inside. Lori beamed at the sight and leaned back in her seat. A happy sigh passed through her lips and she looked towards the house with a feeling of accomplishment washing over her.

"We literally should have done this in the first place." She said. "Now it's only a matter of time until everyone has to leave and we get to back inside."

"First thing I'm going to do when we get in the house is drag Lincoln into the bathroom so his face can get a good look at the inside of the toilet bowl." Lynn said, grinning wickedly.

"Not before I get through with him you won't!" Lola snipped. "I swear, if anyone messed with anything in my room, he is gonna regret it!"

"You really think he let people into our rooms?!" Lana asked, looking a bit worried. "I don't want a bunch of strangers near my pets!"

"Relax, little dudettes." Luna said. "Our bro wouldn't let that happen."

"And even if he did, he'll be answering for it soon enough." Lori said. "Just you wait, any minute now, we will be back in our home and Lincoln will be stuck in his room until our parents come home. Then he is literally going to be grounded for this, big time."

The sisters sat patiently, waiting for the first of the guests to leave. But not a single person came out over the course of the following five minutes. Those five minutes became ten, and then fifteen. It wasn't until nearly half of an hour had passed that Lori began to sense something wasn't right.

"Why is this taking so long?" She asked, leaning over to stare at the front door. "What is the officer doing in there?"

The answer to her question came quickly, and from a place she did not expect. A new text arrived on her phone, one with an image. And that image made Lori let out a gasp of shock when she saw what it was. Officer Schoffner was singing karaoke with a group of guests around her, clearly enjoying the show.

"I...I...I..." Lori stuttered, eyes stuck on the image.

Luna leaned forward and peeked at her sister's phone, a couple of the other sisters joining her. In no time at all, the others quickly became aware of what was going on. Their reactions were all more or less about the same as Lori's. A text message suddenly appeared underneath the picture

"I invited Officer Schoffner" Lori read "But since she had to work, she couldn't attend my party. Thanks for giving her a reason to answer her invite"

Lori squeezed her cellphone so tightly, you could almost hear the plastic frame cracking under the force of her fingers.

"I don't know about you dudes, but I say it's time to throw in the towel." Luna said. "If even a cop won't get Linc to stop his party, then nothing will!"

"I concur with Luna." Lisa said. "The authorities were sadly ineffective and therefore, we have no other options available to us at this time. It seems that we need to just await the departure of the many people Lincoln invited into our household."

Lori let out a groan of frustration and rested her head on the steering wheel. "Yeah. I give up. Let Lincoln have his stupid party. I don't care anymore."

"C'mon Lori!" Lola whined. "We can't give up now. We can't let Lincoln win!"

"Yeah!" Lynn exclaimed. "After everything Lincoln's done we can't let him beat us! We've gotta find another way inside!"

"I don't think we can." Lori said in an exhausted tone. "We've tried asking him, tricking him, jumping him, and calling the cops on him. I am literally out of ideas."

"Well there's gotta be something we can do." Lana said. "Maybe we could pay him to..."

"Pay!?" Lynn said. "You seriously want to pay our brother to let us in our own house?"

"No!" Lana replied. "Of course I don't want to but...well...I don't hear anybody else saying they have an idea!"

"Maybe if we cry and beg?" Lucy suggested. "You, me, Lana, Lisa and Lily.. You know how Lincoln is when he sees that we're sad."

"Whilst taking advantage of our brothers' nurturing instincts is a sound strategy." Lisa piped up. "There's still the matter of the two neanderthals guarding the house. They would undoubtedly tell him of our distraught emotional states. From there, Lincoln would simply choose not to come outside so he doesn't have to see us."

"Fair point." Lucy said with a heavy sigh.

"Maybe we should do it the old fashioned way." Lola suggested. "I'll just text him that if he doesn't let us in, that when we do get in, I'll send some of Luan's most embarrassing footage of him to everyone in town!"

Luan shook her head. "Sorry Lola." She said "But this is Lincoln we're talking about. He's got thicker skin than a rhino. If he's willing to post an embarrassing video of himself, then us posting one isn't gonna bother him one bit."

Lori hit her head on the steering wheel, honking the horn for a quick burst. "Let's just forget it." she said with a clear sound of exhaustion in her voice. "We'll just wait until the party is over. Nothing we do is going to get us inside. Not even..."

"Dada!" Lily said, pointing out the window. "Mama!"

The girls looked to see Lily with her faced pressed against a window. They all looked out of Vanzilla's windows to see thier father in a car approaching their house. The car passed by Vanzilla just slowly enough to see Rita sitting in the back. Lori's chest inflated with joy when she saw them, as did the other sisters.

"Mom and Dad!" Leni said excitedly. "Maybe they can make Lincoln invite us in!"

"Not 'maybe'. They literally will make him do that and they won't take 'no' for an answer!" Lori said, feeling a rush of optimism. "Let's just see what Lincoln has to say when they hear what he's done!"

Lori flung open the door and leaped out of her seat. The other sisters followed her as the vehicle that brought their father and mother pulled over in an available spot up ahead. As their parents waved as their ride took off. They took notice of their daughters coming towards them and they went to meet with them.

"Hey girls." Lynn Sr. said. "How was your trip to the mall?"

"Oh, it was just fine." Lori said. "But what isn't fine is what happened when we got back home. Lincoln kicked us out of the house! We've been out here for more than two hours now!"

"Yeah! And any time we try to go inside, he makes these mean bullies pick on us!" Lola said, letting a few crocodile tears fall down her face.

"They sprayed us with soda and chased us away from the house!" Lynn added.

"Not me! They used girly soap-water on me! It was horrible!" Lana griped.

"I, like, got attacked by a pig!" Leni said.

"Whoa, whoa. Slow down a minute." Their father said. "Did you say you've been out here for more than two hours?"

The girls collectively nodded.

" _All_ of you?" Rita asked, putting her hands on her hips.

They nodded again.

"I see." The mother said, a mildly disapproving look in her eyes. She turned her gaze to her youngest and reached out, letting a warm smile come to her face. "Hey there, sweetie. Want Mommy to hold you?"

Lily cooed happily and reached for her mother. The woman took her baby girl and turned to move towards the house with her husband and other daughters in step with her. Hank and Hawk watched from the front porch as the group approached. When they got to the first step of the porch, they drew their water guns and readied themselves.

The girls all stopped in their tracks. They wouldn't have guessed that Lincoln's goons would pull their soda-filled weapons on a pair of adults. But neither Rita or Lynn Sr seemed to be worried. The two looked back at their daughters and gave them confident smiles.

"Just wait here, okay girls?" Their father said before taking the first step up onto the porch. "Hey there, I'm Lynn Loud Senior. My wife and I are the owners of the house."

Hank and Hawk lowered their water guns instantly and stepped aside, Hawk getting the door.

"Sorry about that. Head on in." He said to the man and his wife.

"Thanks fellas." Lynn Sr. said, walking past them.

"Thank you." Rita added, following her husband to the door.

The girls all gave Hank and Hawk smug looks of triumph. Lori went to follow her parents, eager to witness what was about to go down inside of the house. She could already picture the look on Lincoln's face when their parents started to yell at him. It might have been a bit wrong to enjoy that thought, but right now she wasn't going to concern herself with that.

"Oh, hang on a second." Rita said, turning to face her eldest daughter. "Lori, is the diaper bag still in Vanzilla? Could you get that for me, please?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure thing." Lori said. "Hey, one of you go and get Lily's diaper bag for Mom."

"On it! Be right back." Lynn said.

The jock tore off towards Vanzilla, returning shortly after with the bad. She handed it to Lori who in turn passed it to their mother. Rita took the bag and then set it down, placing her hand on the door.

"Thanks, Honey. I'll look after Lily from here on. You just keep an eye on your other sisters until the party is over, okay?"

"Wh-what?!" Lori blurted out, eyes going wide.

"And don't worry." Lynn Sr. said. "I'll see about holding onto some of the food your brother has downstairs for dinner. You girls behave now, love you!"

And then Rita shut the door, leaving the nine girls completely petrified in shock. Lori slowly sank down to her knees, her stunned expression frozen in place. The other sisters had matching looks, although many of them could not remain still for long.

"Dude!" Luna spat out, looking completely dumbfounded. "He...they...and...DUDE!"

"Lana?" Lola asked, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. "Did Mommy and Daddy just shut the door on us and leave us outside?"

"Uh-huh." Lana answered, nodding as she began tearing up as well.

The twins started to cry in tandem, holding each other as they wailed. Lynn also had a little moisture in the corners of her eyes, angry tears that didn't fall while she ground her teeth and clenched her fists. Hank saw this and readied his water gun again, only for Hawk to stop him.

"I don't think that we need to worry about them anymore." He said.

Hawk gestured towards Lori, who was slowly getting up. Her eyes were sullen and her arms drooped. She turned to leave, her sluggish movements drawing the attention of the other eight girls. The sight of their big sister looking utterly defeated quickly drove home the message to the rest of them. They followed, not one of them saying another word as they went. Although Lynn did take a moment to throw a scornful, dirty look in the direction of the house before she brought up the rear.

Once Lori reached Vanzilla, she opened up the side door and climbed into the very back seat, laying down on it. The other sisters all finding seats to occupy, Leni sitting in the driver's seat since Lori left it vacant. Minutes passed by with more silence until Lynn began to crack her knuckles.

"So I've been thinking." She said. "And I don't care if I get grounded. First thing I'm doing the next time I see Lincoln, is punching him right in the mouth."

"No you aren't, Lynn. Now shut it." Lori said from the back seat.

"But..." Lynn began.

"No buts!" Lori snapped.

"You'd better listen to her, sis." Luna said to Lynn. "I wouldn't push it if I were you. I think we might be in enough trouble as it is. Mom and Dad didn't let us in for a reason. Maybe we had this coming."

"Luna, you had better shut up too." Lori said. "I literally don't want to hear it right now. We failed and Lincoln won. We didn't get into his stupid party and that's it."

"Um, but Lily got inside." Leni pointed out. "That, like, counts for something, right?"

Lisa sighed. "Leni, I admire your attempt to remain optimistic, but we need to face the facts. Lily was permitted entry, yes. But she is still very young."

"Yeah Leni." Lynn said. "It's not like she would enjoy it as much as we would."

 _-Meanwhile, inside of the house-_

A crowd of onlookers cheered down in the VIP area. They were gathered around the dance floor where a tiny, yet talented young lady was busting a move.

"Go Lily!" they cheered. "Go Lily! Go Lily!"

 **Please review, and don't forget to send some love over to my co-writer Twisteddarkness225**


	12. Chapter 12

**Part 12**

Lynn Sr beamed with pride as he watched, and recorded, his baby girl dancing like a pro in front of several cheering people. The adorable tyke was currently doing the many steps from the Cha-Cha Slide, a favorite of hers. And while it was enough fun by itself, she also loved having so many people watching her. It only made her want to keep going and going as long as she could.

A bit of movement to her side caught Lily's attention. She turned to see what it was and discovered that she had somehow obtained a dance partner. Another baby, one Carlitos Casagrande, had joined her on the dance floor and was copying her moves perfectly. She stopped and watched him, tilting her head a bit. He then also stopped and tilted his head too.

Lily wasn't sure how to feel about this situation with Carlitos. Was he making fun of her? Or just trying to have fun? She decided to see by giving something else to copy. She started to shimmy a little and then stopped, smiling at him. He quickly began to copy her movement, stopping after the same amount of time as her. Lily then started to pop and lock, her dance partner not missing a beat and joining her immediately.

"Aww, that is just precious!" Lynn Sr. fawned, eyes welling up with joyful tears.

"¡Son tan adorable!" came an emotional voice from nearby.

Lynn turned to find that he wasn't the only proud parent watching the two little ones dance. Frida Casagrande was standing right next to him, her eyes equally moist as she saw her baby boy dancing with his little friend.

"Would you like me to send you the video when I'm done recording them?" he offered.

"Are you kidding me?" Frida asked. "I would absolutely _LOVE_ it!"

The two continued to watch and adore over their youngest until the music changed. The DJ began to play some songs better suited for slow dancing and a few couples began to enjoy each other's company. Lincoln began to look around the VIP area for Ronnie Anne, not wanting to keep her waiting. His earlier talk with Carlota had peaked his curiosity and he was hoping to talk to the feisty latina about it. Which would hopefully not result in a fist colliding with his...anywhere.

After a quick look around he managed to find her. She and Carlota and CJ were at the buffet table, enjoying some of their grandmother's cooking. Lincoln walked up to them, waving at Ronnie a little and giving her a smile.

"Hey." He said. "There you are. After you finish your plate, how about we have that dance you wanted? If you want, I can ask the DJ to play a song for us too. I'm sure he won't mind a last minute request."

"Nah." Ronnie Anne said. "Don't bother."

"Oh. Okay then. So we can just go and dance whenever you finish eating. No need to rush though, we have plenty of time."

"I don't think you understood me. I changed my mind. I don't want to dance anymore. So if you'll excuse me, I would like to eat in peace."

Lincoln stared at her for a moment before he started to rub the back of his neck a little.

"I see. That's alright. I'll just grab something to eat and hang out around here. Let me know if you change your mind...again."

"I won't." Ronnie Anne said flatly, taking another bite.

She walked off while he grabbed a plate and found a spot further from the speakers so she could enjoy the rest of her food with less noise to distract her. Carlota and CJ followed, the older girl looking a bit annoyed at the moment. She put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot while giving Ronnie an expectant look.

"What?" the girl asked.

"You changed your mind, huh?" Carlota asked. "And when did that happen?"

"Does it matter?" Ronnie Anne asked in return. "He didn't seem bothered by it, so let it go. Dancing like that is stupid anyways."

"No it isn't." CJ said. "It's really nice and kinda fun!"

"So why don't you go and dance with someone then?" Ronnie asked.

"Okay." CJ said, walking off.

The girls watched as he went around the dance floor, making his way towards a girl who was sulking in the corner. He spoke to her, gaining her full attention and making her blush a little bit. Then he held out his hand, which she took after hesitating for only a moment. The two joined the others dancing to the soothing

"Well that's a nice surprise." Carlota said, smiling at the sight. "Looks like my little brother is quite the charmer! See Ronalda? It's not as hard as you're making it out to be."

"Yeah, whatever." Ronnie Anne said, returning to eating her food. "Then maybe you can go and dance with someone too."

Carlota frowned at her. But then an idea popped into her head and she looked back towards the buffet table. She smirked and started to head back in that direction, giving Ronnie Anne on last quick look over her shoulder as she went.

"You know, that's a good idea. And I know just who to ask."

Lincoln made his way through the crowd of slow dancing couples over to the staircase back to the livingroom, intending to play another video game, only to feel someone tap him on the shoulder. He looked behind him to see Carlota smiling at him sympathetically.

"Hey, sorry about Ronnie Anne." she said.

"It's cool." Lincoln said with a shrug. "I know she can be pretty surly, so I figured she could back out."

"Well if you still want to dance." Carlota said, holding out her hand to him. "I'd be happy to step in."

Lincoln looked over at Ronnie Anne, who seemed to be preoccupied with her plate of food.

"Do you think she'd mind?" he asked.

Carlota chuckled. "Oh Lincoln, I'm _positive_ she'd mind."

Before Lincoln had a chance to ask her what she meant, Carlota grabbed his arm and pulled him over to the dance floor. She placed his hands on her waist, and then put her hands on his shoulders. They began to slowly rock back and forth to the music.

Carlota took a few steps back, trying to position herself perfectly across from the table of food. She turned around slowly, making sure Lincoln could see Ronnie Anne hungrily digging into a plate of chorizo with habanero sauce.

Ronnie Anne looked up from her food and spotted them. Her jaw dropped and the fork fell from her lips as she watched her older cousin dance with Lincoln. Carlota winked at Ronnie Anne, who's cheeks were going pink, before deepening to a reddish tone.

"Someone's looking a bit hot under the collar." Carlota thought. She quickly turned her attention back to Lincoln. "It's her loss you know." she said. "If she wants to miss out on a slow dance with a guy as sweet as you, then that's on her."

"If you say so." Lincoln said.

"Aww." Carlota said. "Don't be like that. Any girl would feel lucky to dance with you!"

"You mean it?" Lincoln asked.

"Of couse I do." Carlota said. Then she bent down and kissed him on the cheek

Lincoln's hand slowly rose up to the area Carlota had kissed, before it was grabbed by another hand. Lincoln turned to see Ronnie Anne's face beside him, her cheeks red and her eyes moist. She glared at Carlota, who simply smirked at her in return.

"Mind if I cut in?" she asked.

"But I thought you said you weren't gonna dance." Carlota said.

"Well, I changed my mind." Ronnie Anne said.

"But you also said you weren't going to change your mind." Lincoln said.

"Well I changed my mind about changing my mind!' she said hotly. "Now come on!"

Lincoln didn't argue with her any further than that. If she really did want to dance now, he wasn't going to complain. Especially not when Ronnie Anne seemed to be in a bad mood already. He wanted to ask her what was up, but knew she'd only change the subject or just flat out say it wasn't his business. So instead he would just focus on the dance.

The next song began to play and Lincoln took Ronnie's right hand in his left, lacing their fingers together. She blushed and averted her eyes while placing her other hand onto his shoulder. Her gaze went to focus on his right hand, watching as he held it up as though he wasn't sure what to do with it.

"Don't put it anywhere weird, Lame-O" She warned him.

"Oh, okay. So not on your waist then?" He asked.

"No." Ronnie Anne flatly replied. "Not unless you want my fist in your eye again."

Lincoln hesitated for a moment. "Well, how about this?"

He reached around her and placed his right and on her left shoulder, pulling her in close. Ronnie blushed more as the space between them all but vanished. Their faces were next to each other, the warmth of his cheek on her own. She felt her heart skip a beat and then she moved her face away a little, having some trouble finding her voice.

"T-This is fine, I guess." She said.

"Yeah, it's kinda like we're hugging." Lincoln said, starting to sway gently back and forth with Ronnie following his lead. "And don't worry about stepping on my feet. I don't mind, as long as it isn't like earlier."

"That was on purpose." Ronnie Anne said. "I wouldn't do it by accident, Lincoln. I can dance just fine."

No sooner had those words left her mouth than did she feel Lincoln's toes beneath her left foot. He winced as a sharp pain shot through them and she found herself blushing again as she heard him let out a small hiss as a result.

"Sorry."

"It's okay." Lincoln said. "It was just an accident, right?"

"Shut up."

 **-Meanwhile, outside in Vanzilla-**

"Aww!" said Leni as they watched the camera feed from Lisa's phone. "Aren't they cute together?"

"Leni." Lola said crossly. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"What's that?" Leni asked.

"WE'RE MAD AT HIM!" Lola shouted. "THIS IS NO TIME TO GUSH OVER HOW CUTE HE LOOKS WITH RONNIE ANNE!"

"But just look at them, Lola." Leni said. "How can you not love this?"

She showed the screen to her sisters, who crowded around it. Lucy frowned an even deeper frown than she could normally manage.

"Seems Haiku is enjoying her slow dance with Clyde." Lucy grumbled.

"And there's our mother and father dancing togther." Lisa pointed out huffily. "The traitors."

"And isn't that Ronnie Anne's cousin Carl dancing with Lori's friend Carol?" Lola asked.

Lana snorted with laughter. "How can you dance with someone who is barely tall enough to reach your knees?" she asked aloud. "Hey Lori, you gotta see this!"

Lori was sitting in the drivers seat of Vanzilla. She had lay her head down on the steering wheel about twenty minutes ago, and hadn't moved an inch. She hadn't said a word since their parents had gone into the house and left them outside.

"And it looks like Bobby found a dance partner too." Leni said.

Lori's head snapped up from its position on the wheel. The tears that had gathered at the corners of her eyes had quickly stopped and her eyes went wide. Then, the shock faded and she gritted her teeth so hard it almost hurt.

"WHAT?!" Lori spat, face darkening red with rage. "WHO?! I will literally...DESTROY! HER!"

Lori clambered into the backseat and snatched the phone away from her sisters. Looking into the screen she saw her beloved Boo Boo Bear...dancing with his mother.

" ...oh. He's just dancing with his mom." Lori said, anger instantly gone. "That's actually really sweet of him."

"So does that mean you _won't_ be destroying her?" Luan joked.

"None of you are ever to mention that." Lori ordered. "Now be quiet while I watch my Boo Boo Bear. At least I can get something out of this whole stupid mess."

Lori kept Lisa's phone in her grasp, smiling just a tiny bit as she gazed at the image of her boyfriend on the screen. Leni leaned over to watch the screen a bit more, as did a few of the other sisters. Some of the others just sat in their seats, moping or trying to patiently wait out however much longer the party was going to last.

The minutes passed by and after a few more slow dances, the DJ began to pack up his equipment. The girls who had been watching the screen all perked up and alerted the others. From what they could see on the screen, all of the guests were starting to head up out of the basement. They changed the view to the kitchen and saw all of the guests crowding into the living room, their brother working his way through all of the people to get to the coffee table. As he got closer he found himself dealing with another group of his guests who were gathered around his dance pads, watching the current player or players. He caught sight of his friend Zach just as the current song ended. The red haired boy fell to his knees, gasping for breath. His wiped the sweat from his forehead as Giggles, who had been his opponent, helped him back to his feet.

"Wow." he said in between gasps. "I've had people beat me at this game before, but I dunno how you can move so fast wearing such big, floppy shoes."

Giggles smiled. "Oh, it just takes practice." she said.

Zach stepped off the dance mat, wiping sweat from his brow. "I'm done. So who's challenging her next?"

"I'll take her on!" Becky said as she walked up.

As Giggles selected a new song, Lincoln stopped to watch. Shortly after Becky Giggles began their game, the Casagrandes and Santiagos walked up behind Lincoln. Ronnie Anne slapped him on the back, surprising him enough to make him jump.

"Hey Lame-O." she said, barely holding back a laugh. "Just wanted to tell you this was a great party before I head back home."

"Leaving so soon?" Lincoln asked.

"Wish we could stay longer." Bobby said. "But we've got a long drive back to Great Lakes City."

"Mom says I can play one more round of Dance Battle." CJ said. "But then we have to go home."

"That's okay." Lincoln said. "I'm just glad you made it to...hey CJ...what's that's on your shirt?"

The Casagrandes all looked at CJ, who merely shuffled his feet around a little with a smile on his face. Frida turned her son around to get a good look at his front. Someone had indeed written on his shirt with a black marker.

"You're the least fake person I met today." she read. "Text me sometime. 366-4475. Maggie. Mijo, who is Maggie?"

Carlota grabbed a corner of CJ's shirt and turned it, revealing a glittery purple lip print. She touched the lip print, and then licked her fingertip.

"Well whoever she is," Carlota said. "She wears blackberry lip gloss."

"My baby has a girlfriend!" Frida gushed with joyful tears starting to stream from her eyes. "Oh I'm so happy for you! ¡Mi querido hijo!"

"Wow. I didn't see that coming." Ronnie Anne said.

"Doesn't really surprise me. CJ is a great guy, I'm happy for him." Lincoln said. "But are you sure that you can't stay around for just a little bit longer? I had something special planned for the end of the party and I'd hate for you guys to miss out."

"Sorry Lincoln." Maria said. "But we've got a long drive home and we're hoping to avoid rush hour. It's pretty bad in the city, even on the weekends. We need to leave now if we want to make good time."

Lincoln frowned a bit, his shoulders slumping. But his disappointment was shortlived however as an idea popped into his head. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at Ronnie Anne, smiling again.

"I know, how about I livestream it so you can watch? Would that work?"

"Okay, I guess. But what exactly is it that you had planned?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"You'll see. I'll text you when it's about to start." Lincoln answered. "Have a safe trip back and I'll see you later, okay?"

Ronnie Anne reared back to punch Lincoln shoulder. Lincoln braced himself for the strike, only to feel her grab his arm and pull him forward into a hug. Then after the hug was over, she frowned a little. As if she could sense the feelings of her family, she quickly turned back to face her family.

"Not. A. Word." she said crossly.

Her family looked around at each other, pretending not to know what she was talking about. And with that, the Santiago and Casagrande families left the Loud House. The group headed to their cars, happily chatting about the time they had.

"This was so much fun!" Carlota said. "His VIP room was like a real dance club! There's nothing like shaking your booty to techno."

Frida frowned at her daughter. "What have I told you about those dances?" she asked "You'll be giving boys the wrong idea!"

"Does that mean you gave dad some wrong ideas last week?" CJ asked.

Carlota snorted with laughter, covering her mouth with her hand.

"I...I don't know what you're talking about." Frida said with a blush spreading across her face.

Bobby pulled his phone out of his pocket as he got to the pickup truck and sent a text to Lori "Hey Babe" he said as he texted. "Heading home now. Can I see you one more time before I leave?"

A few seconds passed before he got her reply. "Sorry Boo-Boo Bear." he read. "Not feeling up to it right now."

Bobby's face fell as he noticed the frowning emoji at the end of the text. "Are you mad at me?" he texted.

"Not at you." Lori texted. "I'll call you when I get back in the house. OK?"

"OK" he texted before stuffing the device back into his pocket.

 **-Back in Vanzilla-**

Lori put her phone on the dashboard and slumped back over the steering wheel. The girls were whispering amongst themselves, not wanting to disturb their older sister.

"Is she okay?" Lola whispered.

"I dunno." Lucy whispered back. "It's like someone pulled out her spirit, smashed it to pieces, and them smashed those pieces to pieces. I've never seen her like this before."

"I have." Leni said. "Back when Carol Pingrey beat her in selling the most Bluebell Scout cookies...and beat her in that golf tournament...and beat her for homecoming queen..."

"At least Boo-Boo Bear was there for me that time." Lori mumbled. "I still can't believe that he went to Lincoln's stupid party and didn't even try to get me in. And our parents..."

Leni put her hand on Lori's shoulder assuringly. "It's okay Lori. I'm sure they didn't do it because they wanted to hurt our feelings. And look, the party is over now, eveyone is starting to leave." She said, holding Lisa's phone up so Lori could see. "We can finally go back inside!"

Lori looked at the phone, a very tiny smile coming to her lips. But then it vanished and she looked more closely at the screen.

"Wait, they aren't going through the front door." She noted. "It looks like all of them are going into the backyard. What's going on now?"

Taking the phone again, Lori switched the screen display to show the view from one of the yard cameras that Lisa had installed. Every guest who was still at the party was gathered behind the house, all of them either seated on the grass or standing by the fence or garage. Lincoln, along with Hank and Hawk were setting up something at Lana's mudpit while the DJ Lincoln hired was standing to the side with his phone in hand. It seemed like the DJ was either recording or streaming whatever was going on.

"What the heck are they doing with my mud pit?" Lana asked, scratching her head.

"It looks like he's trying to cover it up." Luan pointed out.

Lincoln was indeed covering the pit. He was pulling a piece of plywood across it, Hank and Hawk working with him on the other side. Once it was in place, he had his cronies set down tarps on the grass surrounding the pit while he added water to it using the garden hose. After they all finished their tasks, Lincoln had Hank and Hawk go into the garage and bring out a large box. They carefully set it down onto the center of the plywood and removed the upper half of the box, revealing a firework setup. Not skyrockets or anything else like that, but rather a small series of roman candles, spinners, whistlers and snakes.

"Can I have your attention everyone?" Lincoln announced to the crowd. "I just want to take a moment to thank all of you for coming to my party today."

"Thank you for throwing it!" Becky shouted, getting many others to cheer in agreement.

Lincoln waited for the group to settle down again before resuming. "Thanks, I'm glad you all had a good time today. As many of you may have noticed, I have something special planned for the finale of the party. And I want to thank Giggles, who not only helped me set this up but also got her dad to oversee this event. How about a quick round of applause for them too?"

The crowd clapped, cheered and whistled for the little clown girl and her father, a burly man in a firefighter outfit with a clown nose and make-up. Once their ovation came to an end, Giggles began to hand out sparklers to the little kids at the party while her father took a minute to look over the setup Lincoln had put together. He gave a thumbs up and stepped back to the side while Lincoln got ready to start the show.

"Okay, here we go. Are you streaming yet?" He asked the DJ.

"Been streaming since we got out here." The DJ replied. "You can start whenever, man. Your girlfriend will have a great view of the lights."

"She's not my...oh, whatever."

Lincoln looked over at the clown dressed in firefighter gear and gave him a thumbs up. The firefighter nodded and reached for a large cardboard box on the ground beside him. Lincoln pulled a long nose lighter from his pocket and began following Giggles, about to start lighting the sparklers that she handed out to the kids until someone put their hand onto his shoulder.

"Hold on a second there Lincoln." said Lynn Sr. "This may be your party, but I don't want you playing with fire. Let me do that for you."

Lincoln handed his father the lighter, and he began lighting the sparklers in Lincoln's place "You can trust Lisa to mix chemicals." Lincoln grumbled. "But you can't trust me to light a sparkler?"

"To be fair we don't trust her with metal cutlery." Rita said as she walked up with Lily in her arms. "But we did trust you to host this little party of yours, for what it's worth."

Lincoln looked up at his mom. "I know that, Mom." he said, "And I...I just wanted to say thanks for letting me do this. Thanks for letting me have my party."

Rita bent down to kiss her son on the cheek. "It's no problem."

"Mom!" Lincoln whined. "Not in front of everybody!"

"Relax sweetie." Rita said. "It's getting dark out."

Lynn walked over to his wife and son, spinning the long nosed lighter on his finger. "That was the last one."

"Great." Lincoln said, looking out over the sea of sparklers. He then looked back at the firefighting clown, giving him another thumbs up and a wink.

The firefighter clown gave a node and held a Catherine Wheel firework in one hand and his own long nosed lighter in the other. The entire group of people had their eyes set on him. He set the firework into place on a pedastal of sorts above the rest. Then he set the tip of the lighter to the fuse and pressed the switch...only for the lighter to emit a spray of confetti and thin streamers instead.

There was a burst of laughter from the crowd of party guests, from Lincoln and his parents. Even the firefighter himself had an amused look on his face. He laughed with a resigned shake of his head and turned to look at his daughter.

"Very funny, Giggles" he said firmly. "Now please hand it over."

Giggles walked over to her father and handed him an identical looking lighter. "Sorry dad" she said with a wide smile on her face. "I couldn't resist."

Now with the actual lighter in his possession, Giggles's father cleared away the confetti and streamers, letting them fall into the mudpit below. Then he attempted to light the fuse again, this time with no surprises. Once it was lit, she stepped away from the setup quickly and carefully, never taking his eyes off of it should anything go amiss.

Every set of eyes in the crowd watched eagerly as the fuse grew shorter and shorter, until at last the Catherine Wheel was set off. It began to spin and emit colorful sparks that were soon followed by the many other fireworks as they began to also go off one after the other. Everyone 'oohed' and 'ahhed' as the display grew more dazzling with each passing second. And then to add to their amazement, the colors of the many different fireworks began to change, going through each color of the spectrum one by one for about five or six minutes until they all finally fizzled out.

With the show now over, the collective guests all politely clapped in appreciation of Lincoln's enjoyable final event. Lincoln waited for them to finish before stepping out again to address them all one last time that day.

"Well, that's it everybody! I just wanted to thank you all for coming again. Get home safely and have a good night, unless anyone wants to volunteer to stay and help me clean up."

A chorus of laughter sounded from the crowd. Shortly afterwards people began to disperse, all of them going around the house and toward their cars. When all of them were gone, Lincoln went back inside, followed by his parents. They made their way into the living room where they saw Pop Pop at the bottom of the stairs.

"There you are." he said. "Say Rita, you don't mind if your old dad uses the shower, do you? I got a little muddy when I wrestled that pig and they won't let me back onto the senior bus like this. Myrtil is on the way to get me a change of clothes right now."

"Not at all, Dad. Go right ahead." Rita said.

"You wrestled Virginia, Pop Pop?" Lincoln asked.

"That I did, kiddo. And I took it to her!" Albert said, letting out a proud laugh. "Best party I've been to in a long time!"

He went up the stair to start running the shower while Rita and the two men of the Loud House got situated in the living room. Lincoln called in Hank and Hawk, to give them the other half of their payment before they had to leave as well. The two dug into their newly gained stash of chocolate bars the minute they got their hands on them.

"Thanks kid." Hawk said. "Pleasure doing business with ya."

"Yeah, feel free to hire us again the next time you throw a party." Hank added. "This was a pretty sweet deal, no pun intended."

"Before you go, do you think you could do me one last favor?" Lincoln asked. "Just let my sisters know that they can come back inside now."

Hank pulled a chocolate bar from the box and chomped down onto it. "Sure. Do you want us to spray 'em one more time?"

Lincoln laughed "Nah. Funny as it might be...I think they've been through enough tonight."

Hawk and Hank walked out of the Loud House and made thier way up the street, up to the ramshackle van where nine angry girls sat. Hawk walked up to the drivers side door and tapped the window with his knuckles. Lori kept her head on the dash, rolling down the window without even looking up at the boy.

"What do you want?!" Lynn shouted from the backseat. "Come to shoot us with soda again?"

Hawk smirked. "No. Just here to give you a message. Your brother says you can come in now 'cause the party's over."

Lori quickly sat up in her seat. "Finally!" she said, starting up Vanzilla.

She drove the short distance up to their house, only to have to stop and wait for the other cars parked in front to leave. Lori impatiently drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as her sisters talked.

"I hope he enjoyed his party." Lola said. "Because when I'm through with him, he'll wish he never let us back inside!"

"Get in line Lola." Lynn said. "He's gonna be my new kickboxing dummy when I get inside. You can what's left of Lincoln after I'm done with him."

"You mean after I get back to Great Grandma Harriet's book of spells." Lucy said. "Then he'll know the meaning of revenge."

"But first I'm gonna hogtie him and toss him in my mudpit." Lana shouted "He owes me a mudwrestling match!"

"Don't you think that's a little mean?" Leni asked.

"MEAN?!" said the other Loud Sisters in unison.

"After what he did to us?!" Lola said. "You think we're being too mean?!"

"I know you're all upset that we missed Lincoln's party." Leni said. "He hurt my feelings too. But two wrongs don't make a right."

"Tell that to our brother." Lori said. "Because he's the one who decided to kick us out because he wasn't getting his way. So let's go and see what he has to say for himself."

Lori got out of Vanzilla and made her way to the house, followed by her sisters. As they neared the door, Lincoln opened it for them, having been watching from the living room window. Lori gave him a cold stare and walked right past him and into the living room. She saw her parents seated on the couch with Lily and almost went to join them. But she still felt too hurt by the fact they just left her and the other girls outside and instead chose to make herself as comfortable as she could on the carpet.

As Lori sat down she looked over to where her brother was and saw he was being advanced on by Lynn, backed up by the twins. The three almost managed to get their hands on him, but as to be expected, Lynn Sr. and Rita intervened.

"Girls, leave your brother alone." Rita warned. "I don't care how mad you are with him, not one of you is to harm a hair on his head!"

"Not unless you want to be grounded for a week." Lynn Sr. added.

"But that's not fair!" Lynn stubbornly protested.

"We can all decide what is or isn't fair after your brother has explained himself. Now all of you, take a seat." Rita said. "When he's finished, then you can let him know how you feel. But only by using your words."

The girls did as they were told, some of them still giving Lincoln a dirty look as they found a place to sit down. Lincoln gave them all a minute to get situated before taking his place standing in front of them all. He smiled at them, only making the ones who were glaring at him seem angrier.

"So..." he began. "Just in case you were wondering, I had a lot of fun today. And I'm not just talking about my party. Some of the tries you made to get in were just...hilarious! Hey Luna, just how did Lola convince you to play the role of her manservant, Butch?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Luna said. "Also, not cool little bro. Keeping us out was bad enough, but thinking it's funny? Do you have any idea how we felt?"

"Fair enough. So...how did all of you feel about not being allowed in the house while I threw my party? Don't be shy, just say it the way it is."

"How did I feel?" Lynn growled. "I'll tell you how I felt! Angry! Frustrated! Stabbed in the back! And don't get me started on hiring those creeps to chase us off!"

"I concur with Lynn." Lisa said. "Their presence was most unappreciated. I do not care how badly you desired to keep us away. The fact that you employed someone to forcefully banish us from our home was as hurtful as it was cruel."

"And they made me clean!" Lana added, crossing her arms. "I already have to take a bath once a month. That's enough!"

"Plus you had all of those people over here, I bet someone was going through our stuff too!" Lola spat. "If I see anything in my room out of place, even a teeny-tiny bit, I'm gonna...!"

Lincoln held up his hand, stopping Lola. "About that. I made sure to keep the doors to your rooms closed and told everyone to stay out of them. Even your friends. The only rooms they were allowed in upstairs were either the bathroom or my room to use the ball pit slide." He said before turning to look at Lori. "Your room was locked up tight the entire time."

"Gee, thanks. I feel so much better now." Lori said dryly.

"Do you have anything else you want to say?" Lincoln asked. "I know that my biggest sister probably has a lot she wants to get off of her chest. Go on, Lori. Tell me."

"You really want to know how I feel about all of this?" Lori asked bitterly. "Well, for starters I was shocked. I could not believe my little brother would ever go so far as to keep us out of our own house. I felt so angry and confused that it made me a little sick inside. I was so mad at you for that little stunt where you let me in the house for one measly second, it made my skin crawl. And knowing that the entire time we were stuck outside, you were having fun without a care about how we felt, only made it all worse." She stood up and stepped in front of Lincoln, towering over him as her anger welled up inside of her. "But more than anything else, I hated it...and I literally mean _HATED_ it to know my baby brother was the one doing all of it. That he could just shut us out like we meant _nothing_!"

Lincoln didn't flinch at all while Lori vented. If anything, he seemed like he was expecting it. To the surprise of every one of the sisters, he let out an exasperated sigh, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Thank you!" he said, sounding completely sincere.

"What the literal _what_?!" Lori blurted out, completely flabbergasted.

"I've gotta admit." Lincoln went on. "When I started this up, I was worried that I might not get my point across. I was starting to doubt myself, starting to think that maybe I was just being a jerk to you guys for no reason. But you actually got the point."

"Now Lincoln." Rita chimed in. "You need to give your sisters a bit more credit. They're very smart girls."

"Yeah kiddo." Lynn Sr said. "Cut them a break here. Even the smartest people need to experience some things for themselves in order to learn about them."

Lori raised and eyebrow and turned to look at her sisters. They all wore the same look of confusion, save for Luna who merely looked sad.

"Learn?" Lori repeated. "What do you mean, learn?

"All we learned is that our brother is a big, selfish meanie!" Lola said. "And I think someone owes someone else an apology!"

The Loud Sisters all chattered in agreement, to which Lincoln responded with a shrug.

"I guess you're right." he said. "I should apologize." Lincoln reached out to his father, motioning for him to hand over his youngest sister. "I'm sorry Lily." he said as he took her in his arms "I wanted to teach my sisters a lesson, but I guess you didn't really do anything to deserve it. Will you forgive me?"

His other siblings stared at him blankly as he apologized to the baby. Lily cooed happily, snuggled against his face and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'll take that as a yes." he said.

"Seriously?" Lola said. "You're apologizing to Lily? Just Lily? What about us?"

Lincoln snorted. "What about you? I'm not sorry for keeping you out of my party. If anything I'm just happy to know my plan worked."

"Plan?" Lori said What plan?"

Luna groaned in irritation. "Oh come on Lori!" she complained. "Wake up! Don't you get it? Lincoln locked us out of his party to get even with us for being kept out of our meeting last week!"

"You're partially correct." Lincoln said. "It's also got to do with how I, more often than not, end up being ignored by all of you. Being outvoted stinks, there's no question about that. But when I don't even get a chance to do something I like or even get to say my piece sometimes, and it happens again and again? That is just the worst. It's almost like none of you care what I feel or think."

"Oh please, that is literally a load." Lori said, rolling her eyes. "You get to do the stuff you like all the darn time!"

"But do I ever get to do something I like with all of my sisters, all of the darn time?" Lincoln asked, narrowing his eyes at Lori. "And I don't mean sitting in the living room and watching The Dream Boat or something like that. I'm talking specifically about our weekend plans. The stuff we plan out as siblings so we can spend time together _as siblings._ The same planning we do at our meetings, which I was not included in last time."

"Toldja." Luna said.

"Luna, I heard you the first time." Lori said before looking back at their brother. "So now what? You got to have your great big revenge party against us. Does it really make you feel better?"

"Oh, I haven't gotten to the best part yet." Lincoln said, a knowing smile on his face and cocky look in his eyes. "Are you ready for this? Because you may not like what I'm about to say."

"I literally haven't like a lot of what you've said and done today." Lori said. "So go ahead, try me."

"You only have yourselves to blame for not getting to be at my party today." Lincoln said.

"Excuse you?" Lori growled. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. You weren't invited because you didn't want to know about the party in the first place."

"What the heck are you talking about Stinkoln?!" Lynn spat. "We were trying to get into the house for hours!"

"I know. And again, hilarious."

"That's enough Lincoln." Rita said. "Please just stick to the point of this meeting."

"Sorry." Lincoln said. "Anyways, like I was saying...yeah, none of you wanted to know about my idea to throw a party this weekend, so I just didn't include you at all."

"None of us wanted to know about it?" Lori repeated. "Where the heck did you get the idea that we didn't want to know about it?!"

"Take a minute to try and figure it out yourselves." Lincoln said, folding his arms behind his back.

Lori fumed silently, but did as her brother said and tried to figure out the meaning behind his words. Many of the other sisters did so as well, all of them drawing a blank save for one. Lisa pieced it together quite easily, having been paying very close attention to everything from the start.

"You were planning this party much further in advance than we thought." She said. "You were going to propose the idea at our sibling meeting. It was originally meant to be something for all of us, wasn't it?"

Lincoln tapped his nose with his finger. "Bingo! Thank you Lisa."

"What?" Lori asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well why didn't you just say...Oh..."

She trailed off, realization dawning on her. The other sisters looked between Lincoln and Lori, who was standing wide eyed with her mouth frozen mid-sentence.

"Because you never gave me the chance to share my idea." Lincoln said. "I didn't get to go to that meeting because you had it without me and didn't even tell me until it was already over!"

Lori's face fell at Lincoln's words. She didn't have anything to say in reply, so he continued on.

"All of you were so mad at me for not inviting you to the party. Well why would I? I didn't even get a chance to share my idea, so that pretty much was a NO from you all, wasn't it?"

The Loud Sisters all began to look around at each other nervously.

"Well..." Lola piped up. "You still went to the mall with us last week."

"Yeah!" Lynn chimed in. "We still let you be a part of our weekend plans!"

Lincoln gasped dramatically. "Oh wow, that's right! I had completely forgotten about that. Last weekend, I got to spend time with my sisters and have fun. After all, I didn't get forced to look after Lily."

"But, like, you did watch Lily for us." Leni said

"And I wasn't going to be made to do a bunch of heavy lifting back and forth to Vanzilla?" Lincoln asked.

"Well...its not like it would've been too heavy for you." Lola said with a slight crack to her voice.

"At least I got to go to a store that I liked." Lincoln said. "That's something, right?"

"No." Lucy said. "You had to try and sneak away and then Lori got mad at you."

"So I guess I should've invited you to the party." Lincoln said sarcastically. "I mean, it was wrong of me to treat you so unfairly, when you all treated me fairly this whole time."

He said the last part with a definite edge to his voice

Lori bit down on her lower lip. "Well..." she struggled to get her answer out. "I mean...It's not that we..."

"Oh, but it's not so bad." Lincoln said. "I mean, it was only one weekend. After all, it's not like I get outvoted, dragged to the mall, forced to watch Lily and help carry your things every weekend, right?"

Lori looked around at her younger sisters. Each one wore a similar look on their face, a mix of guilt with just a hint of shame. For some reason, now it really did seem a bit unfair from the way Lincoln described it. "Look" she said "I...I can admit that not getting to do what you want on the weekend..."

"Every weekend" Lincoln corrected flatly

"He isn't wrong you know." Lynn Sr. said. "You girls have been going to the mall each weekend for a pretty long time. We let you pick out what you do on the weekends because we trust you to find an activity you all can enjoy. Not some of you, not most of you, not the majority, _ALL_ of you"

"The fact that you won't even try to find a way to include him bothers us." Rita said "You sacrifice his chance to have fun so you can have your own. That's bad enough. But to completely disregard him...I never thought my daughters could be so insensitive to their brother."

"Why not?" Lincoln asked "I could"

Lori bit down on her lower lip again "Every weekend" she repeated, the words tasting sour on her tongue "Yeah, I guess we've sort of fell into a rut. And...we make you watch Lily while we shop each and every time...and help us carry our things back to Vanzilla. I get how it might seem a bit...completely unfair."

Lincoln cocked an eyebrow at Lori, as if he expected her to keep going.

"And in hindsight." she said. "Maybe not letting you come to our last sibling meeting...on the grounds that we would've outvoted you anyway was...kinda mean...or...inconsiderate."

Lincoln rolled his eyes. "I sense a 'But' coming."

"But..." Lori said. "Well...we never meant to hurt your feelings. It wasn't personal, we just wanted to get to the mall faster and...and I guess..." She turned to her sisters "Can I get a little help here?"

"Sorry sis, I got nothing." Luna said while giving a shrug.

"I'm afraid that I also have no contributions to make in our defense." Lisa added.

"Yeah, well I think..." Lynn junior began. "We...You!" She grinded her teeth as she trailed off and then threw her arms up angrily. "Okay, fine! So we weren't exactly being fair to you! You were being completely left out and ignored! Is that what you wanted to hear?!"

Lincoln sighed. "Yeah, not that it really makes too much of a difference now. I mean, I already knew it. But having you admit it is a nice start." He said before glancing at his parents. "I've said all I wanted to say. I know I have to clean up the house, but is it okay if I just lay down for a little bit first? I'm pretty tired out between the party and everything just now."

"You go right ahead sweetie." Rita said. "Just make sure to start with the trash, I don't think all of your guests knew how to find the garbage cans."

"And we'll take care of the leftovers for you." Lynn Sr. added. "I for one plan on getting myself a nice big plate of that food in the buffet downstairs!"

"Help yourselves. It looked like there was still plenty last I checked." Lincoln said, heading for the stairs. "Now if you'll excuse me I will be going to my room now."

The sisters watched as their brother left the room. Lori waited until he was out of sight and then listened for the sound of his bedroom door closing before standing up and turning to face the others.

"We literally need to have another emergency sibling meeting right now." She said.

 **Please review**  
 **Please don't forget to send some love over to my Co-writer Twisteddarkness225**


	13. Chapter 13

**Epilogue**

Lincoln woke from his slumber, giving a small yawn and a big stretch. He rubbed the crumbs from his eyes and craned his neck around, hearing and feeling a satisfying crack as he moved.

"That was a good nap" Lincoln said "I think I've got just enough energy to work through the night since its only..."

He looked over at his clock, and his jaw dropped "7:30 AM?" he said "How long was I asleep?"

He ran to his window and looked outside to see the sun had risen. He had only intended to rest for a bit before cleaning up the aftermath of the party, but had slept through the night.

"Guess I was more tired than I thought." Lincoln said to himself. "But it was a pretty big party though. So I guess it makes sense."

He was feeling refreshed after all of the excitement of his party and the confrontation with his sisters that followed. He expected that the next two or three days would be a bit rough with some of them being unhappy with him.

Mostly he was expecting some sort of a spiteful act from Lynn or Lola, possibly a cold shoulder from Lori and some hurt expressions from Leni. But he got his point across, and that was good enough for now. He could worry about patching things up with them later on. For now, he had some cleaning to do.

He stepped out of his room and walked down the hall. He'd take care of the bathroom first, since it was the closest and most likely to be the least pleasant. But as he arrived he discovered that it wasn't bad at all. In fact...the bathroom looked just fine. It was not what he had been expecting at all, but Lincoln certainly wasn't going to complain if his guests had been more courteous than he had expected. Having one less room to clean was a nice surprise.

Turning around, Lincoln went to head down stairs and take care of the trash. Hopefully his guests had at least tried not to leave any plastic cups or paper plates anywhere other than the garbage bins, but if not then oh well. Odds were that he'd be dealing with that somewhere in the house, or possibly in the backyard. And the basement definitely had to be picked up since he remembered seeing someone had knocked over the trash barrel down there.

...yeah, maybe it would be a good idea to take care of that first. Get the biggest hassle out of the way and move onto the rest afterwards. But as he got down the stairs he was again met with something other than what he had expected. The living room was clean, as was the dining room and the kitchen.

"What the...?"

Lincoln scratched his head, his eyes displaying a mix of confusion and surprise. He took a look downstairs and found the basement in the same condition. As kept looking around the spotless rooms he found a scrap of paper with his name on it sitting on the kitchen table. That was all it took for him to make a conclusion.

"Okay, I see what happened now." he thought. "Looks like my sisters didn't need as much time to think as I guessed. That or Mom and Dad just made them do this."

He picked up the paper and gave it a quick look. It said that they were all gathered in Lori and Leni's room where he was to meet with them. For a moment Lincoln considered just going up there to return the paper with his reply of 'NO' written out in nice, large letters. But he figured that he should at least see whether or not his sisters really were sorry. If not, then he'd just walk out and go back to his room.

Lincoln went back upstairs and towards the bedroom of his two oldest sisters. He didn't bother knocking and just walked right on inside. As he expected, they were all seated around the room, waiting for him. A few of them were even giving smiling a little when he entered, albeit said smiles were a bit nervous.

"So." he began. "You guys cleaned up the mess while I was asleep?"

"That's right." Lola said. "It took all night and now my favorite gown smells like habanero sauce. You're welcome!"

"Come on, Lola." Lana said. "We spent the night picking up trash. And picking up trash is easy!"

"Maybe for you!" Lola complained. "Considering you ate more garbage than you threw away!"

Lana burped. "I resent that." she said. "It's not easy for work on a full stomach."

"So, did mom and dad tell you to clean up for me?" Lincoln asked.

"Nope." Luna said. "We did it all ourselves. After yesterday, we figured we could be Working Girls for the night...you know...to say we're sorry."

Lincoln cocked an eyebrow. "You're sorry?" he repeated. "Sorry that you missed out on my party?"

"Sorry that we were ignoring your opinion" Lori said.

Lincoln frowned. "I don't really want an apology because you were told to say it." he said. "If Mom and Dad tell you to do something it doesn't feel like..."

"Mom and dad have nothing to do with this" Lori interrupted. "Listen Lincoln, we are still a bit ticked off because of what you did. But... we do feel bad for making you feel left out. We swear we didn't want to treat you like that. It's just that the mall is a place that has something for all of us and we find it easier to just go there instead of arguing about going to places like the museum of science or to the zoo."

"Heck, we can't even agree on a movie most of the time!" Luna added. "Lori likes romantic comedies. Lucy likes scary movies. And we can't exactly take the little dudettes to some of those."

"Yeah, I know." Lincoln deadpanned. "That's just my point. The things we can do together aren't always things we all want to do. The mall is the one thing all of you agree on most of the time and it still doesn't change the fact that..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. We get it already." Lynn said. "You don't like how we stick you with Lily and all of our stuff. We're sorry okay? How many times do you need to hear it?"

"I don't care if you apologize a million times!" Lincoln spat. "I know that you're sorry. But what I want to know, what I came here to ask, is why? Why can't any of you just take Lily with you while you shop for a change?!"

Lori sighed and stepped forward. "That's because of the same reason you don't like getting stuck with her all the time. It's easier for us to go around to the stores we like if we don't need to worry about keeping an eye on a baby."

"You can say that again." Luna muttered.

"But..." Lori continued. "For whatever it's worth, I leave her with you most of the time because I know you can be trusted with her. And also kinda because you aren't as into shopping as some of us."

"So just because I only like checking out comics or playing at the arcade instead of going through a dozen clothing stores, I get to be the babysitter?" Lincoln asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Look, I get it...the twins and Lisa are too little to do much when it comes to taking care of Lily. And I'm old enough to look after her. That's fine. But can I at least have _one_ of my big sisters lending me a hand? It only seems fair!"

"Deal." Lori said. "Now, since we're all done with that..."

"No." Lincoln said. "We're not. Not just yet. One more thing needs to be discussed. I still have a problem with being stuck carrying bags for all of you."

"Lincoln, you're a boy." Lola said. "Boys carry bags for girls at the mall. I see it in movies and on TV all the time."

"First of all, that's movies and television." Lincoln replied. "And second, I'm your brother, not a pack mule. If each of you gives me even just one bag, regardless of whether or not it's heavy, I still end up with too many!"

Lori took a deep breath and sharply exhaled through her nose. She stared at her brother sadly. "Okay. We don't give you a chance to talk, we leave you with the job none of us want, and we make you work on top of it." she said. "We were wrong, Lincoln. We've been wrong."

"I know that." Lincoln said with a shake of his head. "That's sort of the whole reason I threw the party."

Lori frowned. "You're not making this easy."

"Please allow me to attempt explaining our point." Lisa said, raising her hand. "Elder brother, we have come to realize that we have a tendency to overshadow you. And that, differences in choice of entertainment aside, it's wrong of us to overrule your desires without consideration simply because we outnumber you."

"I'll say it's wrong." Lincoln grumbled.

"Mistreating you was never our intention." Lisa continued. "It was just an unfortunate side effect of our selfishness towards you. It was wrong. Even moreso considering we put you in positions you didn't want, or deserve. It was hypocritical of us to insist that you consider our feelings and desire to have fun on the weekends, when we didn't...when we never considered yours."

"We're all sorry Lincoln." Lucy added. "I mean...of all people I should know how it feel to be overlooked and ignored. And I could kick myself for doing the same to you."

"And it was a really jerk move for us to just freeze you out they way we did." Lynn admitted somewhat sheepishly. "I remember when you all did that to me when we played Settlers of Catland. It really stunk...a lot!"

"And it feels horrible to be left out of the fun." Lola said. "When you guys wouldn't let me into your Secrets Club, it bothered me a whole lot. Enough to make me spy on you and blackmail you all just to get you to hang out with me."

Lincoln's expression softened a little. "Okay, maybe you have a better idea than I thought at first. But still..."

"But nothing!" Lori said, sounding more hurt than angry. "We get it. We literally do. Now please just...get that we get it, okay? Let's just agree that we won't mistreat each other like that ever again. None of us will shut anyone else out of any of our plans. Not a sibling meeting..."

"...or a super fun party that one of us planned." Lincoln finished,smiling just a tiny bit. "Alright, I'm...I'm sorry for what I did yesterday. And thanks for cleaning up for me, I appreciate you saving me the trouble. It took a lot of effort to just plan and set up everything."

"Not too much I hope." Luna said. "At least tell us that you can throw another one soon."

Lincoln shrugged. "Maybe. " he said "We'd need to clear it with mom and dad first. But having two parties in two weeks might be pushing my luck."

"We'll get to that later." Lori said ,picking up a high heeled shoe and banging it on her desk. "But for now, our Sibling Meeting is officially in order."

The girls chattered happily as Lincoln sat down. "First order of business is deciding how to spend our day." Lori announced. "I'm taking suggestions."

The girls looked around at each other, no one saying anything. Lincoln was surprised "Seriously." he said. "No one wants to go to the mall?"

"Well..." Lori said. "We have been going there a lot. It's starting to get a little...stale"

"And as much as I love to shop," Leni piped up. "I don't think we should overdo it."

"Why don't we let Lincoln decide?" Luna suggested. "If anyone is gonna have a different idea on what to do, its him!"

Lincoln's eyes widened. "Really?" he asked.

The girls all agreed, some of them clapped much to Lincoln's suprise. He thought for a moment. "I could say Dairyland." he said. "Or maybe Gus' Games and Grub. But it think I have an idea that we all would like."

"Well don't keep us waiting." Lori said. "Just say your idea."

"I was thinking we could do a day at the park." Lincoln said. "You know, go find a nice place to have lunch and play games or something."

Leni gasped. "Oh, I totes love that idea! We can have a picnic! I can make us all lunch!"

"No, I'll do tha..." Lori began, sounding a bit scared but catching herself before she could say anything more. She cleared her throat and continued in a calmer manner. "I mean, I'll help you Leni. Making enough food for the eleven of us is a big job, you shouldn't have to do it alone."

"I can pack some of my instruments for us to play while we're there!" Luna said.

"And I can bring some of my sports stuff." Lynn suggested. "I just got a new softball I want to break in."

"And I'll work out a schedule to help divide the responsibility of watching Lily for the duration of our excursion." Lisa added.

"I'll volunteer to take the first shift." Luan offered. "I can feed her lunch."

"Okay, sounds like a plan to me." Lincoln said. "Does anyone else have any suggestions for tomorrow?"

Some of the other sisters began to talk all at once, adding their own ideas to the plan. Before long their plan was set and the meeting came to a conclusion. Lincoln left his sisters' bedroom in higher spirits than he had expected when he went in. He had never would've guessed they'd be so quick to come around after how mad they had been before. He...felt obligated to make it up to them somehow.

It was a good thing they got him some free time. Now he could do what he did best.

 **-The following afternoon-**

"Hey Lans, you ready?" Lynn asked, winding her arm up. "Because this is gonna be my fastball!"

"I was born ready!" Lana answered. "Let her fly, sis!"

"Okay, on the count of three." Lynn said. "One...two...three... _ **FETCH**_!"

Lynn threw the softball clear across the park. Lana tore after it, running on all fours with her tongue dangling out the corner of her mouth. From a short distance away, the rest of the Loud siblings sat on a large checkered blanket.

There was a decent spread of different prepared foods and drinks along with a couple of other things that had been packed for entertainment purposes. Currently Leni was watching Lincoln, Luan and Lola while they were playing cards while Luna entertained Lily with a tambourine. Lucy and Lisa each had their noses in a book and Lori was taking a selfie while enjoying her iced tea.

"It's not the mall" she thought. "But...its not so bad"

That familiar electronic tone of Here Comes the Bride rang from Lori's phone. The look on her face brightened.

"I'll be right back" she said as she got off the blanket and walked over to a picnic table. She pressed a button and put the phone to her ear.

"Hi Bobby!" she said.

"Hey Babe!" Bobby said with a note of relief. "I'm glad I can talk to you I...I was afraid you weren't gonna pick up."

"Why would you think I wouldn't want to talk to you?" Lori asked.

"Well..." Bobby said. "I was thinking you might be mad at me...you know, for going to the party."

Lori exhaled sharply. "I'm still a little ticked." she said. "But not enough to ignore a call from you."

Bobby sighed with relief. "Thank goodness." he said. "I was really worried you would be mad at me because of the stuff you missed out on. I figured between the cupcakes, and the ball pit slide, and the basement dance off..."

"Okay okay." Lori said. "I don't need to hear it all. But I do expect you to make it up to me later."

"Aw C'mon Babe." Bobby said. "Lincoln said himself that he owed me the invite for delivering my grandma's food. You're not gonna make _him_ make it up to you are you?"

Lori grumbled. "Oh fine." she said. "Never mind then."

Bobby gave another sigh of relief. "So, where are you right now?" he asked. "The mall?"

"No." she said. "We're at the park today. It was Lincoln's idea."

"Wow." he said. "It's been a while since the last time I heard you say that Lincoln picked where you went."

Lori cringed a bit. "Well.." she said. "After the party we...kinda figured that maybe he should have a turn to pick how we spend the weekend."

"That's so nice of you." Bobby said.

Lori bit her lip. "We just thought it was time that he had a turn." she said. "And we go to the mall every weekend so its nice to mix things up this weekend."

"That's cool." Bobby said. "Wish I could be there with..."

"Bobby!" said a voice from the background. "Hurry to the back room! We're out of soup and we need to restock the shelf!"

"Sorry babe." he said. "Gotta go!"

"Okay." she said. "Talk to you later. Love you!"

"Love you too!" Bobby said.

Lori turned her phone off and headed back to the picnic blanket in just enough time to see her younger siblings finish their card game. Lola and Luan looked at each other through narrowed eyes. Lincoln had just folded his hand and now it was just down to the two of them. Lola laid her cards down on the blanket, revealing four aces.

"Read 'em and weep." Lola said smugly. "Four of a kind."

Luan smirked and placed her cards down. "Read 'em and weep." She mimicked. "Four of a kind."

Lola looked down to see four Jokers on the blanket. Luan had a triumphant grin on her face as Lola simply stared in confusion, as did Lincoln.

"But I thought there were only two Jokers in a deck of cards." Lola said.

"There are only two." Lincoln stated, giving Luan a look. "And normally we take them out of the deck first. Do you have something you want to share with us, Luan?"

"Sorry, but you can't win them all." Luan said with a shrug. "Besides, when you play with my cards you have to play by my rules. _Deal_ with it!" She burst into laughter. "Get it?"

"Can I play too?" Leni asked. "It's no fun to just watch."

"Oh, we know." Luan said. "After yesterday, we know."

"You aren't going to jab us with a stick again, are you?" Lola asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

Leni blushed. "No. And I said I was sorry about before...but the game is called Poker so..."

Luan giggled and shuffled the cards. She dealt them back out to Lola, Leni, herself and Lincoln. As they started their next game, Lucy peeked over the top of her book to watch them play. She seemed caught between returning to her reading and watching them for a moment. Then her eyes moved from them to Lynn and Lana playing fetch. Luna playing with Lily, and Lori setting herself up to take another selfie. Lastly she looked over to Lisa sitting next to her, reading her book quietly. A faint smile tugged at her lip while a thought came to mind.

Putting her book down on the grass, Lucy grabbed a took out a notepad and a pen from her pocket. Lisa noticed Lucy's motions and peeked from over her own book. She looked over at Lucy as she began scribbling in her notepad.

"I assume poetic inspiration has struck Elder sister?" she asked.

"It has." Lucy said as she wrote.

 _Weekend plans voted ten to one_

 _So everyone will get to have fun_

 _Save for the one who was left out_

 _The one we didn't care about_

 _Mistreating him was not our intention_

 _But then came a plan of his invention_

 _A party and time spent celebrating_

 _But for his sisters, it was frustrating_

 _And though we yelled, cried out and knocked_

 _The door to our house remained firmly blocked_

 _We were made to watch while he had fun_

 _Unable to act until he was done_

 _A party missed and a lesson learned_

 _Taught by the brother whose voice we had spurned_

 _A greater number is no excuse_

 _For our behavior to be so obtuse_

 _Though first trying to assign him blame_

 _Self righteous pride turns into shame_

 _Through suffering the whole ordeal_

 _We understand how he would feel_

 _The weekends we enjoyed came with a price_

 _And that was our brothers sacrifice_

 _A problem that we won't make him relive_

 _And so we hope he will forgive_

Lucy put her pen down and looked over her work. A shadow was cast over her and she looked up to see her brother smiling down at her.

"That was really nice, Lucy." He said.

"Um, thanks. But how did you know? You haven't seen it yet." Lucy replied.

"No, but I heard it. You were muttering while you wrote. And it gave me an idea. Well, an idea to add to an idea. Let me show you."

Lincoln took a three ring binder out of his bag and called over Lynn and Lana to join the rest of them. Once the two were at the blanket again, Lincoln had them gather around so he could show off his idea. It wasn't much at first glance. The binder only had three pages inside of it.

"Just keep in mind, this is only the start." He told the girls. "If we keep adding to it, then it will start to look a bit more impressive."

"What do you mean by 'we'?" Lisa inquired. "Is this some sort of project in which any of us may participate?"

"Yup. I'm thinking of calling it the 'Loud Group Activity Planner'. I already put in stuff for how we put together today's trip and all the work I did for the party yesterday. Plus a list of rules for whatever else we think to add to it, but they aren't set in stone just yet. I figured we could look over them and work them out at the next sibling meeting."

"So, this is just a place to keep plans for our weekends?" Lori asked.

Lincoln nodded. "Pretty much. Or for holidays off from school, snow days or stuff we can do on summer vacation. I thought it might be a good idea to help us decide how we all spend time together from now on."

"Pretty cool, little bro." Luna said, ruffling his hair. "I bet we'll have it loaded with fun ideas in no time."

"I too must commend you for this outstanding idea." Lisa said, adjusting her glasses. "This should prove quite useful and prevent any monotony with future outings."

"Well, we still need to make sure that we put in ideas that we know all of us will enjoy." Lincoln said.

"That literally shouldn't be a problem." Lori said. "Now that we know better than to leave anyone out, I think we'll be able to do just fine with our plans. In fact, I think I have an idea that we can all agree on."

"Okay, I can add it to the Loud Group Activity Planner once we all vote on it." Lincoln said.

Lori giggled. "Okay. So, I think we should go get some frozen yogurt for dessert. All in favor?"

"WE ARE!" Chorused the voices of her younger siblings, thrusting their hands into the air.

"It's unanimous then. Let's clean up and get back to Vanzilla."

The kids all hurried to gather up what they had brought to the park. Lincoln however was busying himself by writing down the new idea to add to the binder. Lori gave him a gentle rap on the head, commanding his attention.

"You can do that later, Lincoln. Right now you're spending time with us."

Lincoln smiled and put his binder back into his backpack.

"Yeah, I am."

 **The End.**

 **Sorry this took so long to come out**  
 **Twisteddarkness and I were both dealing with some personal problems while writing this, but we managed to get it finished.**  
 **Thanks for coming along for the ride.**  
 **We'll see you next story**


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